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INSIDE 
CONSTANTINOPLE 

During 
The  Dardanelles  Expedition 


INSIDE 
CONSTANTINOPLE 

A  DIPLOMATIST'S  DIARY  DURING 
THE  DARDANELLES  EXPEDITION 

April — September y  igi^ 


BY 

LEWIS   EINSTEIN 

FORMER  MINISTER  PLENIPOTENTIARY  UNITED  STATES  DIPLOMATIC  SERVICE; 
LATE  SPECIAL  AGENT  AX  THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY,  CONSTANTINOPLE 


NEW  YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

68 1   Fifth  Avenue 


'/g-  -S/^.4  / 


Published,  1918 

BY 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO. 


All  rights  reserved 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


\ 


i 


PREFACE 

The  writer  of  this  journal  had  previously 
resided  at  Constantinople  from  1906  to  1909, 
during  the  later  years  of  Abdul  Hamid's  reign 
and  the  period  of  the  Turkish  Revolution, 
first  as  Secretary,  and  later  as  Councillor  and 
Charge  d'Affaires  at  the  American  Embassy. 
He  left  Constantinople  in  the  autumn  of  1909, 
Turcophile  in  his  sympathies,  sharing  the 
enthusiasm  of  those  who  had  witnessed  the 
downfall  of  the  Hamidian  despotism  and 
the  birth  of  what  they  hoped  would  be  a 
regenerated  Turkey.  He  was  sent  there 
again  early  in  191 5  by  the  Secretary  of  State 
as  Special  Agent  to  assist  the  Ambassador  in 
the  protection  of  the  interests  of  the  Entente 

for  the  American   Embassy  was   then  in 

charge  of  the  Allied  interests,  other  than  those 
of  Italy,  which  had  not  yet  entered  the  war,  and 
Russia,  both  of  which  it  subsequently  assumed. 
He  remained  there  until  September  of  the  same 
year,  when  he  was  sent  to  Sofia  as  American 
Diplomatic  Representative  in  charge  of  British 
interests. 

For  one  in  official  life  the  keeping  of  a  diary 
is  always  a  delicate  matter.  It  was  only  at 
the  inception  of  the   Dardanelles  Expedition, 


vi  PREFACE 

with  all  its  historic  promise,  that  the  writer 
decided  to  jot  down  each  day's  occurrences  and 
reports.  The  hope  that  the  Golden  Horn 
w^ould  then  change  its  masters  has  not  material- 
ized, and  few  conditions  can  be  conceived  more 
painful  than  those  existing  at  Constantinople 
for  the  many  who,  like  the  writer,  were  of  strong 
Allied  sympathy.  Yet  the  record  of  one  who  in 
common  with  others  there  lived  through  anxious 
days  may  not  be  without  interest. 

The  entry  of  America  into  the  war  has 
removed  the  impediment  to  a  publication  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  impossible  before 
many  years.  Under  existing  circumstances, 
however,  it  appears  an  obligation  to  cast  what 
light  one  can  on  German  action  in  Turkey  and 
the  revolting  crime  of  the  Armenian  massacres. 
If  this  journal  can  help  in  any  small  degree 
to  fix  attention  on  the  sufferings  of  the  Arme- 
nian community  and  the  reparation  due,  it  will 
not  have  been  written  in  vain. 

In  reading  the  pages  of  this  diary  practically 
no  corrections  have  been  made.  It  seemed 
better  to  leave  this  as  it  was  written,  with  its 
absence  of  perspective  and  even  its  errors  where 
these  have  occurred,  rather  than  to  recast  it  in 
the  light  of  later  events.  The  diarist  is  rarely 
able  to  weigh  evidence,  and  has  to  include 
fragmentary  and  even  piecemeal  scraps.     Much 


PREFACE  vii 

that  may  appear  irrelevant  has  been  retained  on 
this  ground,  for  even  in  historic  moments  life 
remains  a  mosaic.  The  only  omissions  have 
been  with  respect  to  certain  personalities  and 
references  likely  to  be  detrimental  to  those 
mentioned,  most  of  whom  are  still  in  Turkey. 
These,  however,  are  rarely  of  a  nature  to  in- 
terest the  general  reader.  They  concern^  for 
the  most  part  Ottoman  subjects,  and  especially 
i\rmenians,  who  were  the  main  sufferers  for  the 
Allies*  failure  at  the  Dardanelles. 

Massacre  to  the  Western  mind  presupposes 
an  antecedent  condition  of  intense  hatred. 
Those  better  acquainted  with  the  East  know 
that  no  such  feelings  are  necessary.  There 
was  never  less  fanaticism  than  existed  between 
Turk  and  Armenian  in  the  early  spring  of 
1915.  The  policy  of  murder  then  carried  out 
was  planned  in  the  coldest  blood.  "  We  fear 
them,"  Talaat  has  said  in  private  talk.  "We 
learned  our  revolutionary  organization  from 
them.  They  know  our  secrets."  The  superior 
capacity  of  the  Armenians  appeared  a  menace 
to  an  organization  which  can  brook  no  opposi- 
tion. Yet  the  massacres  might  never  have 
occurred  without  the  fatal  attack  of  the  Allies 
on  March  18.  Until  then  the  nervousness  of 
the  Turkish  Government,  as  shown  by  the  prep- 
arations made  for  the   transfer  to  the  interior 


VIU 


PREFACE 


of  Asia  Minor,  acted  as  a  restraint.  Only  after 
the  fleet's  repulse  had  instilled  belief  in  the 
impregnability  of  the  Straits  did  the  Turkish 
Government  dare  to  begin  its  fiendish  policy  of 
extermination. 

The  Armenian  massacres,  which  were  offici- 
ally styled  deportations,  were  undertaken  under 
the  plea  of  military  necessity.  But  the  mihtary 
direction  was  German,  and  the  latter  will  find  it 
difficult  to  escape  the  gravest  blame  for  acqui- 
escence in  a  crime  which  far  surpasses  in  its 
horror  even  the  crime  of  Belgium.  Though  in 
later  years  German  officialdom  may  seek  to 
disclaim  responsibility,  the  broad  fact  remains 
of  German  military  direction  at  Constantinople, 
and  the  intimate  association  between  the  two 
countries  during  the  brief  period  in  w^hich  took 
place  the  virtual  extermination  of  the  Armenian 
race  in  Asia  Minor. 

The  writer's  stay  at  Constantinople  coin- 
cided with  these  massacres,  the  full  horror  of 
which  took  time  to  realize.  It  coincided  also 
with  the  entry  of  Italy  into  the  war,  the  crises 
in  the  Balkans,  the  inertia  at  Athens,  the  ferment 
at  Bucarest,  and  the  desertion  of  Sofia.  And 
though  the  Bulgarian  barometer  fell  with  the 
Russian  retreat  from  the  Carpathians,  Con- 
stantinople was  still  the  centre  which  influenced 
the  Eastern  theatre  of  the  war. 


CONTENTS 


APRIL 

THE  LANDING  AT  THE  DARDANELLES 

PAGE 

The  E  15 — Police  seize  Toy  Soldiers — Enver's  Tale — 
News  of  the  Landing — A  Turkish  Victory — French 
Sisters — The  First  Wounded — The  Sultan  proclaimed 
Ghazi  I 

II 

MAY 

ITALY    ENTERS    THE   WAR 

Turkish  Arguments — The  Greek  Dispute — The  Pate  of 
the  Convents — The  German  Ambassador — Turks  and 
Germans — Abdul  Hamid  in  Captivity — Hostages  are 
dispatched — Protection  of  Interests — The  Wounded 
— Italian  Interests — In  the  Hospitals — Incitement  to 
Murder — Disarming  the  Christians — The  Hostages 
at  Gallipoli — Entente  Errors — German  Views  of  the 
War — Austrians  wish  for  Peace — Germans  and  India 
— Armenian  Persecution — Eyoub — Talaat  and  Enver 
— Turkish  Moral — Dum-dums — German  Gold  ar- 
rives— Turkish  Reinforcements  —  Pan-Islamism  — 
Daring  British  Submarine — Loss  of  the  Majestic — 
Submarine  Bases  —  Bulgaria  —  Krupp's  Workmen 
arrive — The  Agamemnon — German  Submarines         .      il 


X  CONTENTS 

III 
JUNE 

BATTLE   AND    HOPES 

PAGE 

Orphans  expelled — The  Balkans  prepare — An  Old  Turk — 
German  Predictions — Turkish  Fears — An  Armistice 
— Plans  against  Suez — The  Goeben — Eastern  Poetry 
— A  Policy  of  Ruin — Hindenburg — Enver  and  the 
Prisoners — Bulgaria's  Attitude — America  and  the 
War — Turkish  Nervousness — Will  America  join? — 
Misery  in  the  Interior — Armenians  hanged — Pro- 
Germans  in  Greece — Espionage  and  Murder — 
Turkish  Forces — Anxious  Unrest — The  Causes  of 
the  War — Enver's  Career — Expulsions — Fighting  at 
'Dardanelles — Operation  on  the  Sultan — Rumours 
from  Sofia — Conditions  in  Persia — Reports  from 
Dardanelles  —  News  from  Bagdad  —  Desperate 
Fighting — German  Methods — U  51 — The  Turkish 
Succession 83 

IV 
JULY 

NEWS    OF    THE   ARMENIAN    MASSACRES 

American  Red  Cross — Persecution  of  Armenians — 
Military  Service  Unpopular — Arrival  of  Munitions 
— Turkish  Finance — Club  Elections — Suspicions — 
The  Defences  at  Gallipoh — Talaat — Christians  in  the 
Army — The  Grand  Vizier — Constructing  a  Barrage 
— Torture  of  Armenians — German  Forecasts — The 
Breslau  Injured — Hospital  Ships — Balkan  Royalties 
— Prisoners  in  Hospitals — A  Corrupt  Judge — Driving 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

Allies     into     the     Sea — Situation     at     Gallipoli — A 
Destructive    Fire — Turkish    Resources — Liman    von     ^ 
Sanders — Position  of  Roumania 155 

V 

AUGUST 

BULGARIA    DECIDES 

Liman  remains  —  Italian  Ultimatum  —  Prince  Bur- 
haneddin — Secret  Turkish  Plots — More  Germans 
arrive — Armenian  Persecutions — Arab  Soldiers — 
The  Suvla  Landing — Treatment  of  Prisoners — 
Massacre  of  Armenians — Intrigues  in  Greece — 
Enver's  Optimism — British  Prisoners — The  Battle  of 
the  Mame — Grand  Vizier's  Predictions — Scarcity  of 
Foodstuffs — Alarm  about  Bagdad — Departure  of  the 
Italians — Russian  Difficulties — The  Armenian  Per- 
secution— Admiral  Souchow — The  Turkish  Character 
—The  Late  Khedive  —  Russian  "  Graft  "  —  Travel 
Difficulties — Situation  at  Dardanelles — The  Case 
of  Ipramazian — Bulgarian  Policy      ,       ,       ,      ,       .  209 

VI 

SEPTEMBER 

DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Attitude  of  Bulgaria  —  Arab  Plot  —  Prisoners  — 
Requisitions — Bedri — Turco-Bulgarian  Agreement — 
Bulgaria's  Compensation — Armenian  Persecution — 
Serbia — A  Prophecy — Forced  Celebration      .       .       .270 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

During  the  early  part  of  191 5  it  became 
increasingly  evident  that  the  general  military 
situation  offered  little  hope  of  early  solution. 
The  Russians  were  still  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
the  Carpathians,  unable  to  make  headway. 
Italy  was  wavering  in  suspense.  The  Balkans 
had  not  yet  declared  themselves. 

The  project  of  the  Dardanelles  promised  to 
accomplish  what  was  elsewhere  impossible. 
Yet  in  spite  of  its  brilliant  prospects  it  was 
less  convincing  to  Athens  and  Sofia  than  might 
have  been  supposed.  At  Athens  the  General 
Staff's  prophecy  of  failure  confirmed  its  credit 
with  the  King  in  moulding  his  subsequent 
policy,  while  Bulgaria,  with  fresh  experience 
from  the  Balkan  wars,  felt  that  it  lay  within  her 
power  almost  at  any  time  to  make  the  expedi- 
tion fail  or  succeed,  and  shaped  her  attitude  in 
accordance  with  the  military  situation  of  Russia. 

The  bombardment  of  the  entrance  forts  at 
the  Dardanelles,  however,  threw  consternation 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

into  Turkey.  The  prospective  fall  of  Con- 
stantinople was  anticipated  by  both  Germans 
and  Turks,  and  every  preparation  was  made 
for  the  immediate  evacuation  of  the  capital  and 
the  transfer  of  the  seat  of  government  to 
Eski  Chehir,  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor. 
During  this  period  of  uncertainty  the  Germans 
were  especially  apprehensive  lest  the  Turks 
should  make  a  separate  peace.  Not  one  of 
their  promises  for  the  conquest  of  Tiflis, 
Tabreez,  and  Cairo  had  been  realized,  and 
Turkish  participation  in  the  war  had  led  only 
to  disappointment.  The  expedition  against  the 
Caucasus  ended  in  disaster,  and  an  army  perished 
in  its  snows.  The  Turks  had  reached  Tabreez 
only  to  be  driven  out  again.  The  expedition 
against  Egypt  narrowly  escaped  destruction,  and 
the  ball  which  its  commander  promised  to  give 
at  Shepheard's  hotel  was  unavoidably  post- 
poned. Basrah  and  Van  were  lost,  and  Bulgaria 
was  still  a  dangerous  menace.  The  credit  of 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  which 
rules  Turkey,  was  then  at  its  lowest  ebb.  The 
treasury  was  empty,  the  country  on  the  verge  of 
ruin,  while  everywhere  prevailed  dissatisfaction 
of  a  kind  which  another  reverse  might  easily 
have  changed  into  armed  revolt. 

At  this  juncture,  and  just  as  the  situation 
looked  blackest  for  the  clique  in  power,   the 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xv 

disastrous  attempt  to  force  the  Straits  on  March 
1 8  gave  it  new  hope  and  the  much-needed 
prestige  of  victory.  The  damage  inflicted 
by  the  fleet  against  the  land  defences  was  so 
trifling  ^  that  the  Turks  became  confident  in  the 
impregnability  of  the  Dardanelles,  and  a  change 
of  attitude  on  their  part,  determined  by  this 
conviction,  was  at  once  noticeable.  It  was 
realized  that  the  English  forces  then  on  the 
Islands  were  insufficient  for  the  military  effort 
demanded  by  the  situation.  The  Turks,  who 
were  bringing  up  reinforcements  from  all  over 
the  empire  as  rapidly  as  their  inadequate  means 
of  communication  permitted,  and  who  were 
everywhere  training  fresh  levies,  felt  that  each 
hour  that  passed  increased  their  strength. 
Under  German  direction  they  set  to  work  to 
fortify  the  Straits  to  resist  an  attack,  the  success 
of  which  was  soon  pronounced  impossible. 
Immediately  after  March  i8,  when  Liman  von 
Sanders  assumed  command  of  the  mobile  de- 
fences at  the  Dardanelles,  he  declared  that  in 
ten  days'  time  he  could  make  these  impregnable, 
and  instead  five  weeks'  delay  was  allowed  him 
to  complete  his  preparations. 

During  those  five  weeks,   which  the  expe- 
ditionary force  spent  mainly  in  Egypt,  much 

*  The  report  that  the  ammunition  of  the  forts  was  nearly  ex- 
hausted after  this  attack  is  almost  certainly  without  foundation. 


xvi  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

uncertainty  prevailed  at  Constantinople  as  to 
their  intentions,  and  many  believed  that  the 
project  against  the  Straits  had  been  definitely 
abandoned.  The  landing  took  by  surprise 
those  who  were  not  in  the  confidence  of  the 
military,  and  even  these  did  not  anticipate  its 
date.  The  writer's  narrative  begins  just  before 
it  occurred,  and  opens  with  an  account  of  the 
capture  of  the  crew  of  an  English  submarine, 
the  E  15,  which  had  run  aground  in  a  plucky 
attempt  to  force  the  Straits. 


INSIDE  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I 

APRIL 

THE  LANDING  AT  THE  DARDANELLES 

April  23. — Since  Eddies*  wire  came  I  have 
tried  my  best  to  see  F.  and  the  other  survivors 
of  the  E  15,  but  it  is  impossible,  and  even  the 
fact  that  they  are  here  has  been  difficult  enough 
to  find  out.  At  the  War  Office  no  one  save 
Enver  dares  take  the  slightest  responsibility, 
and  the  latter  is  hardly  ever  there.  He  is  at 
the  Palace,  or  on  manoeuvres  or  on  some 
inspection,  and  things  are  at  a  standstill  while 
he  is  away.  He  is  no  longer  the  modest  young 
officer  fresh  from  Macedonia  I  knew  in  1908, 
who  blushed  professionally  when  praised  as 
a  ''  hero  of  liberty."  The  Bulgarian  Minister 
calls  him  '*  the  Prophet  of  the  Prophet,"  and 
on  either  side  of  his  desk  at  the  War  Office 
hang  portraits  of  Napoleon  and  Frederick  the 
Great ! 


2         LANDING  AT  DARDANELLES 

The  Germans,  however,  have  charge  of  all 
the  technical  departments,  which  fortunately 
for  the  Turks  run  smoothly.  "Deutschland 
iiber  Allah  "  they  say  here.  There  may  be  a 
reason  why  no  one  is  allowed  to  see  the 
prisoners.  Report  has  it  that  they  sank  the 
Torgout  Rets  and  ran  ashore  on  the  way 
out,  but  this  I  know  to  be  untrue.  P.,  the 
former  Vice-Consul  at  the  Dardanelles,  who 
was  captured  with  them,  is  to  be  tried  as  a  spy, 
convicted,  sentenced  to  death,  and  then  pardoned 
at  the  last  moment.  ^  The  Turks  did  not  at 
once  realize  that  the  E  15  had  run  aground. 
They  opened  fire,  and  one  of  the  first  shots 
struck  the  conning  tower  and  cut  the  command- 
ing officer  in  two,  the  lower  part  of  his  body 
falling  at  P.'s  feet.  Another  shell  burst  in 
the  ammonia  tank  and  fumes  asphyxiated  six 
sailors;  the  others  jumped  overboard.  When 
the  Turks  saw  these  swimming  they  went  to 
their  rescue  at  no  little  risk,  for  the  current  was 
running  strong.  The  English  dead  were  buried 
on  the  beach;  but  as  soon  as  Djevad  Pasha, 
the  commandant,  heard  of  this,  he  gave  orders 
that  they  be  reinterred  in  the  British  cemetery, 
and  a  service  said  over  their  remains.  The 
prisoners  have,  so  far,  been  well  treated.  Djevad 
said  they  were  fighting  for  their  country,  and 
^  This  idea  was  later  abandoned. 


POLICE  SEIZE  TOY  SOLDIERS        3 

all  he  hoped  was  that  if  he  or  any  of  his  men 
fell  into  the  Allies'  hands  they  would  be  equally 
well  cared  for.  The  German  officers  have  been 
appreciative  of  the  attempt  to  blow  up  the 
E  15.  They  recognized  it  as  a  very  plucky 
enterprise.  "I  take  off  my  hat  to  the  English 
Navy,"  one  of  them  declared. 

I  hear  that  a  battery  of  howitzers  which 
was  used  by  the  Turks  in  the  Suez  campaign 
is  now  at  the  Dardanelles.  The  Adrianople 
forts  have  long  ago  been  stripped  of  their 
guns  to  send  there. 

April  24. — The  Director  of  the  Bon  Marche 
called  here  this  morning  at  the  Embassy.  The 
police  entered  his  premises  yesterday  and 
seized  some  French  toy  soldiers.  To-day  he 
was  asked  to  sign  a  paper  by  which  he 
acknowledged  that  French  uniforms,  flags,  and 
military  emblems  had  been  found  in  his 
possession.  Word  will  be  sent  to  Bedri  1  not 
to  allow  his  men  to  make  themselves  ridiculous. 
When  I  mentioned  it  at  dinner  at  the  C.*s, 
Munir  Bey  flared  up  and  said  it  was  impossible. 

I  have  just  heard  that  my  old  Turkish 
master,  G.  Bey,  is  editing  their  news  bulletins 
of  victory.  He  is  a  strong  Committee  man 
now.  Once  he  told  me  that  the  Committee 
and  their  enemies  were  "  Tous  les  deux  des 
J  The  Chief  of  Police. 


4         LANDING  AT  DARDANELLES 

canailles,"  and  wept  at  his  country's  mis- 
fortunes. 

April  25. — The  Russians  bombarded  the 
Bosphorus  forts  this  morning.  Shells  fell  as 
far  as  Beicos  and  Buyukdere,  and  an  Italian 
steamer  lying  off  the  quay  had  a  narrow  escape. 
The  bombardment  was  distinctly  heard  here 
and  the  windows  rattled  in  the  houses  near 
the  German  Embassy.  In  the  afternoon  word 
came  of  the  bombardment  at  the  Dardanelles 
and  that  the  Allies  were  landing.  Yet  Pera 
wears  its  customary  Sunday  appearance  of 
crowded  streets.  There  are  no  details  and 
only  rumours.  There  have  been  wholesale 
arrests  of  Armenians — several  hundreds  are 
being  deported  to  Angora  and  Konia. 

Returning  to  the  chancery  in  the  evening 
I  learned  that  some  of  the  French  sisters  of 
the  Rue  Tamtam  and  Kadikeui  had  been 
driven  out  by  the  police. 

Too  many  events  for  one  day,  one's  head  is 
a  jumble. 

April  26. — I  went  to  see  the  Mother 
Superior  of  the  Convent.  The  Turkish  police, 
led  by  an  Imam  who  is  also  deputy  from 
Castamouni,  entered  the  Convent  premises  the 
day  before,  and  ordered  every  one  out.  The 
girls  were  not  even  allowed  to  take  their 
nightdresses,   and   though   their  table  was  set 


ENVER'S  TALE  5 

they  could  not  remove  their  knives  and  forks. 
The  Mother  Superior,  a  quiet  Frenchwoman, 
related  the  incident  very  calmly.  She  told  me 
they  were  gradually  being  stripped  of  their 
means  of  livelihood.  Their  school  had  first 
been  taken  and  the  Turks  were  now  collecting 
the  rent  of  the  shops  below  which  belonged 
to  their  endowment.  I  promised  to  see  Shukri  1 
about  it,  but  gave  little  encouragement.  Pass- 
ing by  I  stopped  at  the  Austrian  Embassy  and 
had  a  chat  with  T.  on  his  favourite  topic — the 
supposed  imbecility  of  the  English  in  making 
war.  He  seems  excited  whenever  he  alludes 
to  it,  though  he  calls  himself  a  former  Anglo- 
phil. 

No  news  as  yet  from  the  Dardanelles,  but 
there  is  an  ill-suppressed  restlessness. 

April  2J. — The  Sultan's  accession  day. — 
Enver  told  every  one  at  the  Palace  that  not 
a  single  ally  was  left  on  the  Asiatic  side. 
There  are  everywhere  reports  of  their  complete 
defeat  at  the  Dardanelles.  Ten  thousand 
killed,  thirty  thousand  prisoners  it  is  said.  No 
one  believes  in  Turkish  victories,  but  still  one 
feels  horribly  blue.  I  went  to  the  Dutch 
Legation  "  at  home  "  to  see  the  military 
attaches,  who  knew  as  little  as  the  rest.  Colonel 
M.  was  told  at  the  German  Embassy  that  the 

^  The  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 


6         LANDING  AT  DARDANELLES 

Allies  had  raised  the  white  flag  and  all  was 
over.  One  feels  depressed.  It  is  sickening 
to  think  of  all  the  loss  of  life  for  nothing — some 
one  has  blundered.  The  English  have  here 
all  along.  After  the  Revolution  they  held 
Turkey  in  their  hands,  but  refused  to  make 
friends  with  the  Committee  and  allowed  the 
Germans  to  capture  this;  they  erred  over 
Adrianople,  during  the  second  Balkan  War, 
when  Asquith  declared  the  Turks  would  not 
be  allowed  to  stay  there,  and  last  August  when 
they  seized  the  two  Turkish  Dreadnoughts, 
and  the  money  with  them,  instead  of  sending 
them  here  under  British  officers  to  control  the 
Straits.  When  they  let  in  the  Goeben,  and 
the  fleet  failed  to  follow  and  sink  her  in  the 
Dardanelles.  When  they  did  not  deliver  an 
ultimatum  to  Turkey  to  dismiss  the  German 
officers  and  crew.  Then  they  blundered  when 
they  did  not  attack  the  Dardanelles  while  the 
forts  were  still  unprepared,  but  waited  till  March 
1 8,  and  allowed  the  Turks  time  to  strengthen 
the  defences.  The  upshot  of  it  all  lies  in  this 
tragedy.  When  Liman  von  Sanders  left  for 
the  Dardanelles  he  said  that  in  ten  days  he 
would  make  these  impregnable,  and  instead 
he  was  given  more  than  a  month.  The  Grande 
Rue  was  thronged  with  the  usual  crowd  in- 
different to  victory  or  defeat.     There  are  flags 


NEWS  OF  THE  FIGHTING  7 

everywhere — by  police  order.  The  Sultan  has 
just  been  made  Ghazi.^ 

I  hear  that  the  Germans,  who  were  w^orrled 
enough  on  Sunday  and  even  Monday,  are  now 
certain  of  victory.  They  have  given  out  that 
it  was  complete  and  all  was  over. 

April  28. — H.'s  birthday.  We  are  too  de- 
pressed to  celebrate.  Captain  W.  has  just 
returned  from  the  Dardanelles.  He  gave  his 
word  not  to  let  out  anything  until  he  returned 
to  America.  He  had  witnessed  the  entire 
bombardment,  but  only  knew  of  the  land  fight 
from  hearsay.  He  had  seen  some  French 
colonial  infantry  brought  in  after  an  eighteen- 
mile  march.  He  spoke  in  the  highest  terms 
of  Djevad  Pasha,  who  is  in  command  of  the 
forts.  Usedom  and  Mertens  are  his  advisers, 
while  Liman  commands  the  field  army.  The 
relations  between  Germans  and  Turks  he 
found  friendly,  and  came  back  much  impressed 
by  the  excellence  of  the  dispositions.  He  had 
witnessed  one  submarine  fight  where  an  English 
boat  passed  the  minefields,  but  fired  its 
torpedoes  without  success.  He  thought  the 
fighting  had  finished  by  a  complete  repulse. 
There  are  rumours  to  the  contrary.  At  the 
Club  I  asked  General  P.  whether  it  was  all 
over,  but  he  pleaded  ignorance.     I  saw  N.,  who 

^  The  title  of  conqueror. 


8         LANDING  AT  DARDANELLES 

told  me  positively  that  the  Russians  landed 
this  morning  at  Midia!  The  Greek  waiter  who 
heard  it  was  crazy  with  joy.  It  is  hard  to 
control  one's  excitement.  The  Turks  admitted 
that  their  only  danger  lay  in  a  double  simulta- 
neous attack.  Helene  rushed  off  to  tell  Mrs.  J., 
depressed  by  the  other  news.  I  brought  the 
report  to  the  Embassy,  but  on  inquiring  from 
Enver  I  learn  that  there  is  no  truth  in  it. 
At  the  Dardanelles  they  still  are  fighting  at 
the  point.  The  complete  victory  of  the  day 
before  was  manufactured  for  the  Sultan's  acces- 
sion day.  What  the  real  situation  is  we  do  not 
know  and  may  not  for  days.  In  the  evening  B. 
brings  in  word  that  a  huge  allied  force  holds 
the  two  points — Seddulbahr  and  Kumkaleh. 

April  29. — They  are  still  fighting,  and  the 
Turco-German  accounts  of  complete  victory 
were  at  least  premature.  It  is  amusing  to  see 
how  they  juggle  their  bulletins,  which  are  vague 
enough  to  admit  of  anything.  The  Turks  have 
arrested  the  managers  of  the  Bon  Marche  and 
^'  Baker's  "  for  not  illuminating  to  celebrate  the 
Sultan's  accession  day.  Bedri  intends  to  bring 
both  before  the  military  court-martial,  and  is 
very  obstinate  about  it.  Two  French  priests 
are  still  in  prison  awaiting  trial.  They  are 
charged  with  having  concealed  writing  under 
the  postage  stamps — a  lie  no  doubt. 


FRENCH  SISTERS  9 

April  30. — Went  to  the  French  convent  to 
inform  them  of  my  talk  with  the  Minister  of 
PubHc  Instruction.  Shukri  is  responsible  for 
their  persecution.  The  sisters  told  me  that 
the  ruffians  proceeded  with  their  inventory 
in  the  very  room  where  a  nun  lay  dying. 
Since  the  police  have  entered,  the  sisters  no 
longer  enjoy  privacy,  outside  their  own  rooms. 
Walking  back  through  Galata  I  saw  troops 
returning  from  the  Selamlik,  the  first  after 
the  Sultan's  proclamation  as  Ghazi.  How 
many  more  Selamliks  will  there  be  at  Santa 
Sophia! 

At  tea  at  the  Swedish  Legation  I  had  a 
long  talk  with  the  Persian  Ambassador,  who 
told  me  he  would  not  permit  the  use  of  Turkish 
at  his  Embassy.  He  wanted  to  preserve  the 
Persian  tongue.  "  Je  suis  fanatique  sur  cela." 
He  is  closer  to  Europe  than  to  Turkey.  Dis- 
cussed the  inevitable  Dardanelles  with  Colonel 
M.  We  can  only  make  surmises.  He  thinks 
it  a  mistake  to  have  made  the  chief  landing 
at  Kaba  Tepe  ^  instead  of  Seddulbahr — far 
more  costly  in  men  and  counter  attacks  more 
likely  to  succeed  as  the  flanks  cannot  be  pro- 
tected. Still,  if  the  Allies  have  already  main- 
tained themselves  five  days  the  balance  is  likely 
to  incline  in  their  favour.     Colonel  M.  walked 

^  Anzac. 


10       LANDING  AT  DARDANELLES 

back  with  me  to  the  Embassy,  and  while  chat- 
ting with  him  at  the  gate,  tramcars  full  of 
wounded  passed  before  us.  Two  transports 
have  arrived  with  three  thousand  wounded 
from  the  Dardanelles. 


II 

MAY 

ITALY   ENTERS   THE   WAR 

May  I. — Busy  with  the  Armenian  matter. 
The  Allies'  repulse  on  March  i8,  precipitated 
the  crisis.  The  Patriarch  has  interested  the 
Italians  as  well  as  Washington  in  his  people. 
Here  as  elsewhere  the  Government  seems  bent 
on  breaking  the  last  remnants  of  political  op- 
position. They  have  crushed  the  Turkish 
opposition,  they  expelled  the  Greeks,  and  now 
is  the  Armenians'  turn — and  all  this  while 
the  Empire  is  threatened  on  every  side.  This 
mixture  of  unconsciousness,  calm  confidence, 
brutality  and  cruelty  is  extraordinary.  At  the 
Club  the  men  who  govern  gamble  daily: 
Talaat  plays  poker  and  the  Grand  Vizier 
billiards;  while  the  Allies  have  landed  at  the 
Dardanelles,  and  in  spite  of  official  bulletins 
are  said  to  be  making  headway. 

The  Embassy  is  besieged  by  monks  and 
nuns,  and  my  hands  are  full  with  French 
relief. 

II 


12  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

In  the  evening  a  most  excellent  dinner  at  the 
P.'s.  Hakki  was  there  sleek  and  redolent  from 
Berlin,  looking  more  like  a  German  banker 
than  a  former  Grand  Vizier.  I  should  have 
liked  to  ask  him  about  his  interview  in  London 
last  August  when  he  said  that  Turkey  would 
never  be  idiotic  enough  to  go  to  war  with 
England. 

E.  Bey  spoke  to  me  about  Armenian 
revolutionary  propaganda  here.  Were  he  an 
Armenian  he  said  he  might  have  done  the 
same.  I  showed  him  how  impossible  it  was, 
and  he  finished  by  practically  admitting  this. 
But  even  the  most  intelligent  of  them  are 
carried  away  by  the  last  talker.  His  wife  is 
charming,  though  it  is  odd  enough  to  see  a 
Turkish  lady  dining  out.  It  would  not  have 
been  possible  before. 

Djevad  ^  took  me  aside  to  complam  about 
the  fanaticism  of  Englishmen  like  B.  and  F. 
The  latter,  he  said,  liked  only  the  old-fashioned 
Anatolian  Turk,  who  said  his  prayers  five  times 
a  day  and  turned  to  Englishmen  for  all  advice. 
He  thought  the  British  made  a  great  mistake 
not  to  work  with  the  Committee — with  all  its 
faults  it  had  energy  and  power,  and  a  country 
like  Turkey  was  not  ripe  for  party  govern- 
ment.    With    only    a    little    skilful    handling 

^  A  Turkish  diplomatist. 


TURKISH  ARGUMENTS  13 

Turkey  could   have  been  so  easily  in  British 
hands — quite  true  to  my  mind.     After  all,  the 
Turks   prefer  the  English  to  other  foreigners. 
I  told  him  that  the  Young  Turk  treatment  of 
Greeks  and  Armenians  had  given  great  offence. 
He  asked  why  this  could  not  have  been  over- 
looked in  the  same  way  as  London  overlooked 
Russians'   atrocities   in   Persia.     He   had   been 
much    impressed    when,    after    every    kind    of 
horror,  Grey  declared  he  was  without  informa- 
tion on  the   subject.     Djevad   gave  the  usual 
Turkish  argument  for  the  war— the  necessity 
of    seizing    the    opportune    moment    to    fight 
Russia,  and  also  to  wipe  out  the  stigma  of  the 
Balkan    War.     I    asked    what    Turkey    would 
gain  from  it.     "  Nothing,"  he  said.     "  All  we 
ask  of   Germany   is   that   she   should   not   be 

beaten.'* 

May  2. — The  Russians  are  having  their 
usual  Sunday  morning  bombardment  of  the 
Bosphorus,  and  I  was  asked  not  to  go  with  the 
launch  in  that  direction.  But  it  had  sprung 
a  leak,  and  instead  we  went  to  Haidar  Pasha. 
From  there  we  drove  up  to  Boulgourlu  through 
the  cypresses  of  the  Scutari  cemetery.  A 
filthy  old  Turk  served  coffee  and  loucoums  on 
the  crest  while  we  watched  the  distant  smoke 
of  the  bombardment  rising  from  the  Black  Sea 
so  peaceably  it  was  hard  to  believe  in  war. 


14  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

On  our  return  we  passed  numbers  of  recruits 
near  the  Haidar  Pasha  Station — the  usual 
stocky  and  stolid  Anatolian  peasants,  a  column 
of  whom  swung  along  in  their  peasant  dress. 
The  whole  district  is  now  an  armed  camp,  and 
across  the  bay  at  Kadikeui  more  men  were 
drilling. 

Returning  to  Galata  I  visited  the  English 
hospital  where  wounded  had  been  brought 
from  the  Dardanelles.  A  doctor  there  told  me 
at  least  ten  thousand  came  in  during  the  last 
two  days,  and  more  were  arriving.  Those  I 
saw  were  mainly  Arabs  from  the  Aleppo  Vth 
Corps.  They  looked  well  fed  and  in  good 
condition.  The  wounds  were  mostly  from 
bullets,  though  at  the  Russian  hospital  they 
are  all  from  bayonets. 

I  spoke  with  one  young  officer  who  had 
been  shot  in  the  foot.  He  knew  a  little  French, 
and  said  the  Allies  had  many  good  cannon  and 
maxims.  But  I  did  not  like  to  press  questions, 
for  they  have  been  ordered  to  keep  silence. 
The  men  are  docile  as  lambs — like  good  chil- 
dren, the  doctor  said — few  people  when  left  to 
themselves  are  as  submissive  as  the  Turk. 

Enver  has  declared  that  in  a  day  or  two 
the  Allies  would  be  driven  into  the  sea,  but 
complained  of  their  bombarding  Gallipoli  and 
other  unfortified  places,  and  said  that  if  this 


THE  GREEKS  DISPUTE  15 

did  not  cease  the  French  and  English  here 
would  all  be  interned  there  to  share  the  same 
risks  as  the  non-combatant  population.  He 
would  wait  till  Thursday  for  a  reply.  This  is 
of  a  piece  with  Djemal's  brutality  in  Syria,  and 
after  what  took  place  at  Smyrna,  where  the 
same  thing  was  done,  they  are  quite  capable  of 
carrying  it  into  effect. 

At  dinner  I  spoke  with  N.  of  Greek  affairs 
and  how  right  Venizelos  had  been.  Greece 
entering  a  month  ago  would  have  enjoyed  a 
privileged  position;  now,  if  she  comes  in,  it  will 
be  with  the  crowd.  Z.,  although  himself  a 
Venizelist,  thought  the  latter  made  three  grave 
errors — first  in  resigning,  then  in  not  sup- 
porting a  Zaimas  Cabinet  which  he  could  have 
controlled,  and  lastly  in  his  altercation  with  the 
King  and  Gounaris.  The  latter,  goaded  by 
the  Venizelist  press  with  charges  of  being  in  the 
pay  of  Germany,  retorted  by  saying  that,  un- 
like others,  he  had  never  been  ready  to  give 
up  national  territory.  Venizelos  then  published 
his  memorials  to  the  King,  as  the  latter 
would  not  acknowledge  his  own  readiness  to 
cede  Cavalla.  The  whole  affair  is  sad  for  the 
Greeks.  As  usual  they  are  divided  when  the 
country  most  needs  unison. 

May  3. — Called  on  Shukri  on  behalf  of  the 
French   sisters.     He   is  a   fanatical   atheist  of 


1 6  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

the  worst  kind,  and  told  me  frankly  that  he 
was  trying  to  get  every  monk  and  nun  out  of 
the  country,  and  could  not  understand  why 
they  would  not  take  the  hint.  "  We  Turks 
are  regarded  as  barbarians  by  you  all,"  he  re- 
marked to  me.  I  answered  that  we  had  never 
treated  them  as  such,  and  that  under  the  old 
regime  tolerance  and  hospitality  had  been  their 
boast.  As  a  well-wisher  of  Turkey  I  could 
not  understand  how  by  making  war  on  women 
in  an  era  of  liberty  and  progress,  they  did  what 
an  age  of  tyranny  had  never  contemplated. 
He  replied  that  their  faults  were  the  same  as 
before,  while  their  former  chivalry  was  disap- 
pearing. The  cynicism  he  gets  from  Talaat 
— I  never  saw  the  latter  so  pleased  as  when 
called  a  '*  devil  "  to  his  face.  Shukri  is  more 
pig-headed  and  less  intelligent  than  his  master 
whom  he  tries  to  imitate.  He  wants  to  get 
hold  of  the  foreign  schools — palaces  he  calls 
them — and  will  hesitate  at  nothing.  The  war 
offers  an  excuse  to  seize  the  French  properties. 
Meanwhile  he  prides  himself  on  moderation. 
In  Germany  and  Austria,  he  said,  not  an 
uninterned  belligerent  remains,  and  all  their 
property  has  been  destroyed!  Toward  us  he 
justified  his  measures  by  citing  lynch  law!  It 
is  now  a  toss  up  if  the  schools  are  to  serve  for 
Turkish  pupils  or  wounded.     I  rather  fancy  the 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  CONVENTS      17 

latter.  Enver,  so  Shukri  said,  wishes  to  utilize 
the  sisters  as  nurses.  I  told  him  the  wounded 
had  a  prior  claim  to  everything,  but  if  he  turned 
out  the  orphans  simply  to  make  room  for  Moslem 
pupils  he  was  doing  something  which  would 
everywhere  be  condemned.  At  last  he  con- 
sented to  the  sisters  accompanying  the  orphans 
if  the  latter  are  removed.  Leaving  Shukri  I 
hurried  over  to  warn  the  Mother  Superior  of 
what  she  might  expect.  It  was  bad  news, 
though  she  cherished  few  hopes  of  the  occupied 
quarters  being  restored,  but  she  took  it  with 
calm  and  dignity.  It  seemed  kindest  to  fore- 
warn her,  in  order  that  they  might  make 
preparations  for  departure,  instead  of  being 
taken  unawares.  They  may  now  be  expelled 
any  day.  Their  present  convent  was  taken 
over  to-day,  and  the  larger  French  schools  are 
already  full  of  wounded. 

We  have  been  asked  not  to  go  out  without 
our  identification  cards.  The  Roumanian 
Minister  was  roughly  handled  at  Kavak  by  the 
police,  who  took  him  for  a  French  shoemaker 
until  a  stranger  recognized  him.  The  Porte  is 
of  course  apologetic.  Mano,i  who  has  a  horror 
of  anything  approaching  an  Incident,  tried  to 
deny  it.  Oddly  enough,  a  similar  thing  hap- 
pened to  the  R.'s.  The  Princess  was  seen 
1  The  Roumanian  Minister. 


i8  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

reading  a  number  of  the  Gaulois  on  board 
a  "  Shirket,"  when  a  passenger  asked  permis- 
sion to  borrow  it  for  a  moment.  A  spy  who 
saw  this  had  her  arrested  by  the  police,  and 
she  had  to  explain  who  she  was  to  be  released. 

All  the  French  and  English  here  have 
been  summoned  by  the  police  to  be  ready  on 
Thursday  to  go  to  Gallipoli  for  exposure  to 
the  bombardment.  The  Embassy  has  been 
full  of  them.  One  came  last  night  in  terror, 
sobbing  with  fear.  M.  called  him  a  "  cringing 
cur  '*  to  his  face  for  his  pains,  and  told  him  he 
would  have  to  take  his  chance  with  the  rest. 
He  spoke  of  his  ailments,  but  was  cut  short  by 
M.,  who  said  he  knew  perfectly  well  he  had 
spent  five  weeks  at  the  hospital  to  avoid  being 
sent  to  a  concentration  camp. 

At  the  Club  I  saw  the  Grand  Vizier,  who 
looked  like  the  Mongol  Princes  at  Peking, 
important  as  always.  He  is  the  only  one  in  this 
Government  who  is  a  gentleman.  He  is  rather 
a  pompous  little  man  who  speaks  as  if  he 
ruled  the  Empire,  where  he  is  only  a  figure- 
head, ignores  business,  and  takes  his  orders 
from  Talaat.  He  insists  on  all  the  Turks 
wearing  the  fez  in  the  Club-rooms,  much  to 
their  disgust,  and  though  he  speaks  English 
perfectly  parades  Orientalism  and  hatred  of 
the  foreigner.     I   talked  with   M.    Pasha,   the 


THE  GERMAN  AMBASSADOR       19 

Circassian  prince,  who  is  far  more  sympathetic. 
He  did  not  seem  pleased  over  the  Dardanelles, 
and  rather  avoided  any  discussion.  The  Grand 
Vizier,  who  is  always  cocksure,  tells  every  one 
that  final  victory  there  is  certain  within  a 
couple  of  days,  but  few  believe  it.  Shortly 
before  I  came  Wangenheim  ^  entered  the  card- 
room,  and  without  further  ado  made  an 
auctioneer's  speech,  saying  that  the  victory  in 
Galicia  was  the  greatest  in  history.  The 
Russian  army  had  been  completely  annihilated. 
He  always  advertises  every  success  like  a 
patent  medicine.  It  impresses  the  Turks! 
Last  night  vain  efforts  were  made  to  interest 
him  in  the  ^ate  of  the  English  and  French 
hostages.  He  acknowledged  that  two  British 
submarines  had  entered  the  Marmora,  which 
probably  means  four.  As  they  received  sup- 
plies from  some  of  the  Greek  inhabitants  of 
the  islands,  the  entire  population  was  to  be 
summarily  expelled.  Henceforth  they  threaten 
to  put  subjects  of  the  belligerent  powers  on 
every  transport.  I  rather  fancy  that  the  report 
of  some  of  these  being  sunk  is  true. 

The  Russians  have  again  bombarded  Kavak. 

May   4. — The    Embassy   is   full   of   excited 
French  and  English,  the  latter  mostly  Maltese, 
terrified  by  the  prospect  of  going  to  Gallipoli. 
^  The  German  Ambassador. 


20  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Some  are  in  tears,  fearing  they  will  never 
return.     The  whole  town  is  very  excited. 

Returning  from  lunch  we  met  Hu.  at 
Lebon's,  breakfasting  over  his  usual  bottle  of 
champagne;  and  Helene,  misled  by  his  French, 
spoke  hopefully  of  the  Allies'  victory  without 
realizing  that  all  his  interest  lay  with  the 
Germans.  At  the  Willebois'  I  talked  of  the 
schools  with  Monsignor  Dolce,  the  Apostolic 
Delegate,  and  Mons.  Pompili,  his  coadjutor. 
They  are  devising  a  plan  to  save  these  by 
offering  them  for  the  use  of  the  wounded. 
Mons.  Dolce  told  me  he  had  visited  the  Red 
Crescent  headquarters  where  forty  Turkish 
ladies  worked  without  their  veils.  I  walked 
back  with  G.,  who  has  the  shrewd  common 
sense  and  simplicity  one  so  often  finds  in 
Italians.  His  phraseology  always  amuses  me. 
When  he  spoke  of  the  Roumanians  going  to 
war,  he  said  they  reminded  him  of  those 
choruses  at  the  opera,  singing,  "  Partiamo,  Par- 
tiamo,"  but  never  leaving.  Without  idealism 
or  lofty  views,  he  has  very  real  kindness. 

In  the  evening  Pa.  came  here  to  play  bridge. 
He  had  been  responsible  for  the  Liman  von 
Sanders  incident  at  the  American  Embassy 
dinner.  As  the  dinner  was  a  mammoth  one, 
Liman  was  somewhere  near  the  foot  of  the 
table,  and  vented  his  anger  on  Pa.,  who  had 


TURKS  AND  GERMANS  21 

seated  the  guests.  He  pretended  to  come  im- 
mediately after  the  Ambassadors.  This  no 
one  would  admit,  least  of  all  the  Turks. 
His  chief  indignation  came  from  being  seated 
after  Enver,  who,  though  his  junior,  is  none 
the  less  Minister  of  War. 

May  5. — A  deputation  of  Turkish  ladies 
visited  the  Goehen  lying  at  Stenia,  and  asked 
why  a  German  ship  remained  calmly  there, 
when  their  own  husbands,  sons  and  brothers 
were  in  the  firing  line.  The  supposed  Russian 
aeroplane  which  flew  over  Chichli  on  Sunday 
was  Turkish.  The  Turks  brought  it  down 
with  their  fire,  and  killed  their  own  best  aviator 
as  well  as  a  German  officer.  Both  were  given 
a  splendid  funeral  yesterday,  the  wings  of  the 
aeroplane  being  placed  on  their  coffins.  They 
only  have  three  other  aeroplanes. 

More  wounded  are  coming  here,  but  their 
moral  and  condition  is  far  better  than  during 
the  Balkan  War. 

Troops  are  also  leaving  for  the  Dardanelles. 
I  saw  a  battalion  march  by  yesterday,  chanting 
an  Eastern  dirge.  They  have  been  taught  to 
sing  by  the  Germans.  The  men  were  not 
very  young,  and  their  uniforms  were  of  ancient 
pattern  and  somewhat  shabby.  The  best 
troops  have  already  gone. 

I  saw  Ahmed  Riza  in  the  Grande  Rue,  but 


22  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

in  his  own  interest  avoided  him.  He  is  the 
last  survivor  of  the  original  Paris  band  of 
Young  Turks,  now  old,  and  out  of  sympathy 
with  those  in  power,  and  the  only  one  who,  in 
the  Senate,  has  dared  to  criticize  the  Com- 
mittee. But  his  opposition  is  without  sting. 
He  is  still  the  same  honest  visionary  as  before. 
When  he  called  the  other  day,  he  told  me  the 
United  States  ought  to  stop  the  war.  I  asked 
what  should  be  done  with  Belgium,  to  which 
he  answered,  that  its  sovereignty  must  be  re- 
stored and  its  neutrality  guaranteed! 

Street  encounters  here  are  dangerous.  Not 
long  ago  I  met  Serafimow,  the  Russian  Sec- 
retary left  behind.  We  talked  together  only 
for  a  few  moments,  but  it  was  at  once  reported 
to  the  German  Ambassador.  Everything  is 
immediately  distorted,  and  there  are  spies 
everywhere,  especially  around  the  German 
Embassy.  In  what  is  called  society,  four 
ladies  were  mentioned  to  me  as  indulging  in 
this  pastime.  The  German  Ambassador  ad- 
mittedly pays  for  every  bit  of  information, 
whether  it  is  of  value  or  not,  to  encourage 
the  trade. 

^S.  Bey,  who  lunched  here  to-day,  called 
this  a  reign  of  terror,  and  it  is,  especially  so 
for  the  Turks.  People  are  brought  up  before 
the    military    court-martial    without    knowing 


ABDUL  HAMID  IN  CAPTIVITY      23 

their  offence.  They  cannot  have  a  lawyer,  the 
trial  is  secret,  and  they  have  no  opportunity 
of  refuting  the  charges.  Most  Turks  are 
very  pessimistic  over  the  future,  and  dread 
the  ruin  which  the  Committee  had  brought 
on  the  land,  but  few  express  themselves  openly 
as  he.  He  is  the  same  charming  type  of  old 
Turk,  witty  and  delicate.  From  him  I  heard 
of  Abdul  Hamid,  who  is  a  prisoner  at  Beyler- 
bey.  Although  seventy-four  years  of  age  he  is 
in  good  health  and  spirits,  and  keeps  up  his 
abstemious  habits,  rising  very  early,  and  living 
mainly  on  a  milk  diet.  His  daughters  visit 
him  regularly,  and  all  his  gaolers  are  de- 
voted to  him,  for  he  was  always  personally 
kind,  but  he  is  not  allowed  to  see  his  sons. 
His  former  favourite  son,  Burhan-Eddin,  left 
the  other  day  for  Berlin.  Before  going  he 
called  on  the  Sultan,  who  made  him  a  present 
of  only  £50,  much  to  his  disgust.  His  first 
idea  was  to  give  it  to  the  serv^ants,  but  con- 
cluded that,  as  these  were  hard  times,  it  was 
best  to  swallow  pride. 

All  day  the  Embassy  was  besieged  with 
French  and  English  begging  not  to  be  sent  to 
Gallipoli.  Enver  refuses  to  rescind  the  order. 
He  gave  the  usual  German  arguments  against 
British  inhumanity,  and  how  the  English  always 
trampled  on  the  rights  of  every  one. 


24  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

He  declared  that  as  the  order  had  already 
been  communicated  to  the  army,  right  or  wrong, 
it  would  be  fatal  to  discipline  if  it  should  be 
cancelled  now.  He  would,  however,  limit  the 
number  of  British  and  French  to  fifty  between 
the  ages  of  twenty  to  forty.  Pending  the 
receipt  of  the  British  and  French  Govern- 
ments' reply  they  would  be  kept  on  board  a 
boat. 

If  the  answer  did  not  prove  satisfactory 
they  were  to  be  landed,  and  so  long  as  the 
other  non-combatants  remained  there,  they 
would  have  to  take  their  chances  with  them. 

I  had  to  inform  Wangenheim  of  this,  and 
found  him  playing  bridge  at  the  Club.  It  is 
odd  that  a  man  with  so  many  responsibilities 
should  yet  spend  a  few  hours  daily  at  cards. 
He  promised  to  assist  in  cancelling  the  order, 
but  only  spoke  to  the  Grand  Vizier,  which,  as 
he  knew,  was  worse  than  useless. 

It  is  hard  to  know  exactly  what  Wangen- 
heim's  relation  is  with  Berlin.  He  was  one  of 
those  summoned  at  the  famous  council,  held 
early  last  July,  when  the  Emperor  turned  to  all 
the  different  leaders  and  captains  of  industry, 
and  asked  them  if  they  were  ready  for  war. 
When  asked  if  he  could  deliver  Turkey, 
Wangenheim  gave  every  assurance.  Was  it 
wise    or    an    error?     All    will    depend    on    the 


THE  GERMAN  AMBASSADOR       25 

Dardanelles.  Weitz,  the  correspondent  of  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  who  has  enjoyed  for 
many  years  an  exceptional  and  privileged 
position  at  the  German  Embassy,  and  is  one 
of  its  leading  intermediaries  with  the  outer 
world,  whose  echoes  he  brings  back,  told  me 
that  if  Marschall  had  been  Ambassador,  Turkey 
would  not  have  gone  to  war,  as  mobili- 
zation would  have  answered  their  needs. 
Wangenheim  and  even  Liman  were  both 
against  it,  for  they  realized  that  Turkey  was 
the  weakest  link  in  their  chain,  and  might 
prove  a  boomerang,  but  the  orders  came  from 
Berlin  when  things  were  not  looking  well  for 
the  Germans. 

Thus  far  Wangenheim  has  scored  with  the 
Turkish  successes,  and  the  Germans  here  back 
him  for  next  Chancellor.  He  is  cunning,  and 
politically  unscrupulous.  He  boasts  that  one 
must  be  ready  to  sacrifice  not  only  life,  but 
honour,  for  one's  Sovereign.  He  has  a  musical 
strain  running  through  his  nature  which,  under 
other  circumstances,  would  have  made  him  a 
great  artist.  As  an  Ambassador  he  lacks 
dignity.  He  is  far  too  nervous,  mercurial,  and 
journalistic  in  his  methods.  Solely  keen  to 
please  the  Emperor  he  lacks  the  rugged  in- 
dependence which  made  Baron  Marschall's 
boorishness     respectable.      At     the     Embassy 


26  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Garroni,!  Willebois,^  and  Koloucheff  ^  came  in 
for  news  of  the  hostages.  Garroni  thought 
the  reduced  numbers  demanded  fairly  satis- 
factory, and  that  once  down  at  Gallipoli  the 
order  might  be  rescinded.  Koloucheff  pro- 
fessed indignation  about  sending  British  and 
French  "  to  be  killed,"  as  he  put  it. 

He  too  had  just  been  to  see  Enver,  who 
told  him  the  Dardanelles  were  strewn  with 
dead.  On  Monday  the  English  had  advanced 
to  within  two  miles  of  Maidos,  but  were  driven 
back  to  the  shore.  At  Kumkaleh  the  stiffest 
kind  of  fighting  had  taken  place.  Enver 
acknowledged  that  of  a  Turkish  division  only 
1 60  men  and  8  officers  were  left,  but  was  con- 
fident of  driving  out  the  Allies  in  another 
week's  time.  The  losses  had  been  enormous 
— 45,000  on  the  Turkish  side — and  the  wounded 
are  being  sent  as  far  as  Adrianople  and  Kirk 
Kilisse.  Koloucheff  thought  there  could  be 
little  left  of  the  Allied  forces,  and  the  attack 
was  doomed  to  failure,  but  I  pointed  out  that 
their  superiority  of  artillery  probably  weighed 
heavily  against  the  Turks.  I  am  under  the 
impression  that  the  latter  possess  few  machine 
guns.     The    question    will,    I    fancy,     resolve 

^  The  Italian  Ambassador. 

2  The  Dutch  Minister. 

3  The  Bulgarian  Minister. 


HOSTAGES  ARE  DISPATCHED       27 

itself  Into  one  of  munitions.  The  Turks  are 
supposed  to  be  badly  in  want  of  these  for  any 
prolonged  operations,  though  ships  have  lately 
come  in  with  supplies,  from  the  Black  Sea.  It 
is  odd  that  the  Russians  should  not  exert 
greater  vigilance. 

The  Turks  are  very  nervous  about  Italy, 
and  so  is  Wangenheim.  I  am  ignorant  of 
what  they  know,  and  the  Italians  here  remain 
uninformed.  No  telegrams  have  come  in.  N. 
believes  mobilization  imminent,  and  to-morrow 
intends  sending  me  his  trunk  of  valuables  for 
safe  keeping. 

May  6. — I  went  doAvn  to  see  the  hostages 
off  for  Gallipoli.  A  crowd  was  assembled  on 
the  wharf,  and  w^omen  and  men  implored  us 
to  get  their  sons  released.  In  the  Custom 
House  fifty  French  and  English  were  herded 
together.  One  or  two  were  sobbing.  Their 
nerve  had  left  them.  P.  accompanies  them. 
Our  two  newspaper  men  who  also  go  with 
them  were  in  high  glee.  They  had  been  at 
Neuve  Chapelle  and  at  Mulhouse  on  the 
German  side,  and  had  already  seen  a  good 
deal  of  the  war,  and  even  been  arrested  as 
supposed  spies.  Wigram,  the  English  parson, 
insisted  on  going  along. 

Bedri,  who  had  made  all  the  arrangements, 
was  on  hand.     The  roll-call  was  read  and  the 


28  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

men  embarked  in  the  small  tug,  on  which  they 
are  being  sent  to  Gallipoli.  A  certain  number 
of  substitutes  had  also  been  herded  together, 
but  these  were  released. 

Returning  to  the  Embassy,  I  saw  a  trans- 
port bearing  off  laden  with  soldiers  who  shouted 
the  usual  Padishah  cheers. 

Liman  has  asked  for  50,000  reinforcements, 
but  they  can  only  dispatch  30,000.  The  wounded 
are  coming  in  daily;  yesterday  they  requisi- 
tioned the  three  Greek  schools,  and  are  already 
talking  of  using  the  Pera  Palace  Hotel.  Z. 
asked  if  we  would  live  in  his  house.  He  is 
afraid  they  may  want  it  for  the  wounded,  and 
also  the  new  law  against  weapons  in  private 
possession  gives  pretext  for  interfering  with 
every  one.  I  was  offered  two  houses  at  Moda 
this  morning,  also  various  servants  and  horses, 
by  people  who  dreaded  lest  their  possessions 
should  be  seized. 

After  lunch  we  visited  the  old  palace  at 
Seraglio  Point.  A  Turk  offered  flowers  with 
unsurpassed  grace.  I  shall  regret  the  Turks 
if  the  Russians  come.  The  palace  is  such  a 
bit  of  the  Orient  with  its  marble  balustrades, 
marble  fountains,  and  marble  pavements. 

In  the  evening  the  Turks  are  elated  by 
reports  of  victory.  They  have  taken  200  rifles 
and   a  few    machine  guns.     What   have   they 


PROTECTION  OF  INTERESTS       29 

lost?  Rumour  puts  it  at  between  50,000  and 
60,000.  I  hear  that  a  few  thousand  caught  by 
the  Allies  near  Seddulbahr  wanted  to  surrender. 
An  English  officer  who  went  to  negotiate  was 
shot  by  the  Germans  who  were  with  the  Turks. 
When  the  latter  finally  surrendered  the  four 
Germans  were  summarily  hanged.     Is  it  true? 

There  are  rumours  of  another  Black  Sea 
fight,  and  the  sound  of  cannon  was  heard.  The 
Goeben,  Breslau  and  Hamidie  went  out  this 
morning  so  it  is  not  unlikely. 

May  7. — We  have  been  making  arrange- 
ments for  the  reception  of  the  Italians  here, 
if  Italy  goes  to  war.  There  are  12,000  at 
Constantinople,  and  the  Embassy  is  sure  to  be 
overrun  by  them.  Wangenheim  gave  out  some 
time  ago  that  they  would  be  treated  not  as 
belligerents,  but  as  traitors,  and  he  will  doubt- 
less try  to  make  it  hot. 

Serafimow,  the  Russian  Secretary,  leaves 
with  the  Italian  Embassy  when  they  go.  It 
would  have  been  difficult  to  keep  him,  as  he  is 
Wangenheim's  bete  noire.  I  shall  have  my 
hands  full  when  the  moment  comes.  Wangen- 
heim has  complained  that  I  was  anti-German, 
and  word  had  come  to  him  both  from  the 
Grand  Vizier  and  Talaat  that  I  was  anti-Turk. 
He  himself  is  doubtless  at  the  bottom  of  the 
intrigue. 


30  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

After  lunch  we  went  to  the  hospitals  to  see 
the  Turkish  wounded,  where  Helene  distributed 
loucoums.  This  morning  she  gave  them  roses 
which  they  appreciated.  One  poor  devil  who 
was  shot  through  the  back  cannot  recover.  He 
told  Helene  he  was  in  the  hands  of  Allah,  and 
ready  for  his  fate.  They  are  all  resigned;  it 
is  the  foundation  of  their  moral  training.  Even 
a  Parisianized  Egyptian  like  Izzet  told  me  this 
afternoon  he  was  a  fatalist. 

May  8. — The  usual  rumours  are  about,  one 
that  Liman  von  Sanders  has  been  killed,  but  I 
do  not  believe  it.  Wangenheim  called  on  M. 
at  the  Embassy  actually  jubilant  to  announce 
the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania!  If,  as  is  probable, 
American  lives  have  been  lost,  it  will  cause  a 
storm  of  indignation  at  home,  and  even  muni- 
tions in  the  cargo  will  not  palliate  the  offence. 

There  are  rumours  of  general  massacre  in 
case  of  defeat.  The  committee  has  often 
threatened  to  raze  the  city  to  the  ground  before 
they  go,  but  I  think  it  bluff.  If  they  are 
defeated  they  are  far  more  likely  to  be  meek. 
Many  others  believe  differently,  and  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  apprehension.  There  always  is 
here.  One  high  foreign  personage  regards 
himself  as  a  hero  whenever  he  visits  Enver  in 
his  private  house  and  escapes  the  sack  in  the 
Bosphorus. 


THE  WOUNDED  31 

We  have  just  returned  from  a  round  to 
the  hospital  to  visit  the  wounded.  I  found 
a  French  soldier  who  has  been  brought  in 
wounded  and  exhausted  after  a  week's  priva- 
tion. The  French  sisters  call  him  a  Swiss. 
One  Turkish  officer  who  was  suffering  great 
pain  complained  that  he  had  been  shot  by  a 
dum-dum  bullet.  Captain  W.  spent  some  time 
trying  to  convince  him  of  the  contrary,  but 
in  vain. 

Toward  evening,  the  two  managers  of  the 
Bon  Marche  called  at  the  Embassy  to  thank 
M.  for  their  release  by  the  court-martial  after 
ten  days  passed  in  prison  for  not  illuminating 
on  the  Sultan's  accession  day.  They  were  well 
treated,  however,  and  had  no  complaint  to 
make.  Talaat  instructed  the  court-martial  to 
acquit  them. 

Enver  now  says,  that  if  there  is  no  further 
bombardment  of  Gallipoli  the  hostages  may 
return  by  Tuesday.  Meanwhile  he  refuses  all 
individual  permissions  for  departure  from  here, 
even  in  the  case  of  a  man  of  eighty.  Unlike 
Talaat  he  never  makes  exceptions. 

To-day  we  moved  into  the  Z.  house.  They 
regretted  us  at  the  Pera  Palace.  The  Director 
is  afraid  it  will  be  turned  into  a  hospital,  for 
wounded  keep  on  arriving  daily  from  the 
Dardanelles. 


32  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

May  9. — On  my  way  to  the  Embassy,  trams 
full  of  wounded  passed  me.  The  British 
Government's  reply  about  the  hostages  has 
come.  It  is  as  expected.  If  any  harm  befall 
a  British  subject,  Enver,  Prince  Said  Halim, 
and  the  entire  Cabinet  will  be  held  responsible. 

The  streets  are  full  of  people  carrying 
weapons  to  the  police  stations,  for  the  new  law 
requiring  denunciation  calls  for  the  death 
penalty.  People  live  in  terror  of  the  authori- 
ties, and  the  authorities  in  terror  of  the  people. 

To-day  the  Tanine  began  the  first  of  a 
series  of  sensational  revelations.  An  alleged 
plot  hatched  between  Kitchener  and  Venizelos, 
the  cavass  of  the  Greek  Legation,  and  the 
Armenians,  with  a  sprinkling  of  well-known 
Turkish  conspirators  like  Sherif  and  Sabahed- 
dine.  The  English  Government  is  charged 
with  offering  a  reward  of  £20,000  for  the 
murder  of  Talaat.  Thanks  to  the  sharpness 
of  the  Chief  of  Police,  Bedri,  the  plot  was 
thwarted.  Some  of  the  junior  officials  at  the 
Greek  Legation  are  mentioned  by  name  as 
implicated.  For  the  present  they  have  merely 
pounced  on  the  Armenians. 

Reliable  news  is  so  scanty,  one  cannot  tell 
what  is  happening,  but  there  are  too  frequent 
reports  of  massacres  in  the  interior  not  to  con- 
tain some  truth.     Wholesale  expulsions  are  of 


ITx\LIAN  INTERESTS  33 

dally  occurrence.  The  Italian  Consul  is  telling 
all  his  countrymen  to  leave  here  as  soon  as 
possible.  But  though  war  seems  imminent,  at 
the  Embassy  they  know  nothing,  and  the  only 
information  comes  from  Naby's  1  dispatches 
from  Rome  to  the  Porte.  The  Italians  are 
said  to  be  concentrating  troops  at  Brindisi  for 
an  expedition  here,  and  the  Turks  have  im- 
plored Vienna  to  yield  on  all  points  to  Italy. 
They  cannot  give  too  much.  Their  recent 
success  in  Galicia  will  have  made  them  more 
stubborn,  and  the  Russians  more  conciliatory, 
and  willing  now  to  acquiesce  in  Italian  ambi- 
tions in  the  Adriatic. 

In  the  afternoon  I  met  Garroni  and  took 
him  out  driving  toward  the  Sweet  Waters.  He 
was  frankly  indignant  over  the  Liisitania,  and 
certain  it  would  create  an  enormous  impression 
in  Italy.  He  told  me  that  he  had  been  directly 
approached,  to  find  out  to  whom  Italian 
interests  would  be  entrusted  in  case  of  war, 
and  he  was  glad  to  be  able  to  reply  that  he  had 
received  no  instructions,  though  it  would  un- 
doubtedly be  us. 

As  I  should  have  personal  charge  of  the 
matter,  he  asked  me  to  beware  of  those  who 
exploited  their  Italian  nationality  to  obtain 
pecuniary  relief. 

*  The  Turkish  Ambassador  at  Rome. 


34  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Returning  to  the  Embassy  I  found  Pallavi- 
clni.i  The  latter  was  there  to  ask  if  we  had 
taken  over  ItaHan  interests!  He  acknowl- 
edged that  if  the  Italians  sent  100,000  men 
and  the  Greeks  a  couple  of  divisions  the 
Dardanelles  would  fall. 

After  the  German  boasts  of  impregnability 
this  comes  as  the  first  admission.  Enver,  ap- 
parently, is  furious  at  the  English  for  their 
stubbornness  in  continuing  the  attack.  Had 
it  been  the  French  alone,  he  thinks  they  would 
long  ago  have  desisted. 

Z.  has  received  a  wire  from  his  father,  that 
war  was  probable,  and  directing  him  to  leave 
at  once. 

If  Greece  falls  into  line  now  It  will  be  a 
great  vindication  for  Venizelos.  But  the  Charge 
d'Affaires,  who  dined  with  us  last  night,  had 
heard  nothing. 

May  10. — The  Breslau  left  this  morning  with 
its  funnels  painted  white.  In  the  afternoon 
came  a  report  that  the  Goeben  had  sunk  the 
Russian  flagship.  The  Grand  Vizier  announced 
it  officially  to  his  callers,  and  said  the  news  had 
been  confirmed,  but  at  the  Club  Wangenheim 
knew  nothing,  and  it  turns  out  to  be  the  usual 
canard.  The  want  of  munitions  is  beginning 
to  be  felt.     They  are  ransacking  the  arsenals, 

1  The  Austrian  Ambassador. 


IN  THE  HOSPITALS  35 

and  hauling  out  old  supplies  of  doubtful  value. 
Meanwhile  we  are  without  news  from  the 
Dardanelles  save  the  usual  Turkish  victories, 
but  even  these  have  reduced  their  proportions, 
and  the  last  is  satisfied  with  the  capture  of  a 
thousand  shovels.  The  Grand  Vizier  declared 
to-day  the  Allies  deserved  to  be  put  in  a  mad- 
house for  their  folly! 

Wounded  are  still  coming  in,  and  this 
morning  their  number  here  is  estimated  at 
17,000.  They  have  requisitioned  all  the  Greek 
hospitals,  and  when  the  latter  could  contain  no 
more  they  were  told  to  turn  out  their  own 
sick.  Also  having  no  more  cotton  the  Turks 
requisitioned  all  they  could  lay  hands  on,  and 
forced  the  Greeks  to  buy  it  from  them  for  their 
own  wounded.     They  did  the  same  with  sugar. 

Mrs.  M.  went  to  see  a  few  English  prisoners 
at  the  Gulhane  hospital — stokers  from  the  E  15. 
But  she  only  saw  them  for  a  minute,  as  the 
German  doctor  frightened  her  by  saying  that 
relief  to  the  English,  who  were  enemies,  would 
be  badly  regarded  by  the  Turks  who  were 
themselves  in  want  of  everything. 

Arrant  and  cruel  nonsense,  for  the  Turk  is 
indulgent  enough  when  not  goaded  by  the 
Germans — who  have  tried  their  utmost  to  make 
them  maltreat  the  English.  Mrs.  M.,  who  is 
kindness  itself,  was  very  upset. 


36  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

The  M.'s  and  G.  dined  with  us,  the  latter 
very  pensive  and  unhappy  at  the  prospect 
before  Italy.  He  has  been  against  war  from 
the  start,  but  now  regards  it  as  inevitable. 
N.  Bey  came  in  afterward.  He  too  is  sad. 
"  Pauvre  Turquie  qu'est  ce  qu'elle  deviendra." 
He  thought  Italy  was  right  to  enter,  from  her 
point  of  view,  but  dreaded  the  complications 
resulting. 

I  hear  that  Turkish  officers  were  seen  to- 
day at  Stamboul  in  handcuffs. 

May  II. — Z.  left  this  morning  for  Athens. 
He  did  not  want  his  departure  known,  being 
nervous  lest  at  the  last  moment  the  Turks 
would  not  let  him  leave. 

All  the  Greeks  are  very  apprehensive,  but 
hopeful  of  the  end,  and  determined  to  go 
through  anything  if  need  be.  The  train  was 
crowded,  I  hear.  Little  by  little,  the  place  is 
emptying  of  all  save  those  who  must  remain. 

We  have  received  an  incendiary  proclama- 
tion on  the  Holy  War,  circulated  by  Germans 
at  Aleppo,  and  intended  to  provoke  a  massacre 
of  Christians.  The  Vali  was  ready  to  punish 
those  responsible  for  it,  until  he  heard  they 
were  Germans,  when  he  suddenly  became 
meek.  A  German  woman  was,  it  seems,  most 
ardent  in  circulating  it.  Every  Moslem  is 
urged  to  kill  at  least  three  or  four  of  the  ruling 


INCITEMENT  TO  MURDER         37 

infidels,  English  and  French.  One  passage 
reads  as  follows: — 

"The  killing  of  the  infidels  who  rule  over 
the  Islamic  lands  has  become  a  sacred  duty, 
whether  it  be  secretly  or  openly.  To  whoever 
kills  even  one  single  infidel  of  those  who  rule 
over  Islamic  lands,  either  secretly  or  openly, 
there  is  a  reward  like  a  reward  from  all  the 
living  ones  of  the  Islamic  World. 

**  And  let  every  individual  of  the  Muslims, 
in  whatever  place  they  may  be,  take  upon  him 
an  oath  to  kill  at  least  three  or  four  of  the 
ruling  infidels,  enemies  of  God  and  enemies  of 
that  religion."  ^ 

French  monks  and  nuns  have  been  arrested 
in  great  numbers.  They  are  vaguely  accused 
of  taking  part  in  a  conspiracy,  perhaps  the  one 
described  in  the  Tanine,  when  Kitchener, 
Venizelos,  the  Armenians,  and  the  cavass  of 
the  Greek  Legation  were  implicated  together. 
Wangenheim  remains  cruelly  indifferent  to  this 
Armenian  persecution,  and  the  Austrian  Em- 
bassy is  without  influence,  for  Pallavicini  is  far 
more  humane.  Odd  that  the  most  Catholic  of 
all  countries  should  be  the  ally  in  a  "  Holy 
War."  We  went  to  the  Bazaar  after  lunch, 
but  the  place  is  dead.     Nothing  is  bought  or 

^  Pamphlet  published  by  the  National  Society  of  Defence, 
circulated  in  Turkish  and  Arabic. 


38  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

sold,  and  an  atmosphere  of  oppression  hangs 
everywhere. 

Returning  I  saw  two  transports  loaded  with 
troops  about  to  leave  for  the  Dardanelles.  The)^ 
send  them  daily.  Enver  is  there,  which  is  not 
a  good  sign  for  the  Turks.  There  was  enough 
friction  in  the  past  betw^een  him  and  Liman. 

The  Allies  secured  their  first  landing  at  Ari 
Bournu,  where  a  Turk  was  in  command.  The 
Germans  say  he  was  asleep,  and  the  English 
managed  consequently  to  entrench  themselves 
undisturbed.  One  of  the  British  submarines 
in  the  Marmora  is  said  to  have  called  at 
Rodosto,  flying  the  Turkish  flag.  The  Kaima- 
kam,  believing  the  officers  to  be  German,  gave 
them  all  the  petrol  and  provisions  they  required, 
and  it  was  only  after  leaving  that  they  hoisted 
their  true  colours. 

At  the  Dutch  Legation  I  met  Goppert  of  the 
German  Embassy,  who  at  once  took  me  aside 
to  ask  about  the  Lusitania.  Fortunately,  my 
ill  command  of  German  stood  me  in  good  stead, 
for  I  could  not  express  myself,  as  I  liked,  and 
remained  silent.  He  could  see  no  point  of 
view  other  than  the  German.  Under  the 
German  theory  a  man  owes  honour  as  w^ell  as 
life  to  his  country.  ''  Der  Kaiser  verlangt  es  " 
is  enough  to  excuse  any  crime. 

May   12. — The    Goehen  is  back   at   S tenia, 


DISARMING  THE  CHRISTIANS       39 

injured.  She  is  said  to  have  been  struck  four 
times,  and  one  of  her  big  guns  put  out  of 
action.  The  other  ships  are  in  the  Golden 
Horn,  where  they  lie  safe  from  submarines. 

The  new  law  about  weapons  is  being  en- 
forced with  distinctions.  Christians  and 
Moslems  are  taken  into  different  rooms  at  the 
police  stations,  and  the  latter  permitted  to 
retain  their  arms.  At  the  Credit  Lyonnais, 
where  they  have  two  sets  of  watchmen,  the 
Croatians  were  obliged  to  surrender  their  re- 
volvers, while  the  Turkish  guards  retained 
theirs. 

More  and  more  wounded  arrive,  and  at  the 
Pera  Palace  the  management  is  greatly  terrified 
lest  the  hotel  be  requisitioned.  Rooms  are  now 
given  guests  for  nothing,  and  one  secretary, 
from  occupying  a  small  bedroom,  has  now  a 
vast  suite  at  his  disposal.  The  Italians  are 
not  permitted  to  leave.  If  war  is  declared,  the 
Turks  want  hostages  here.  The  authorities 
declare  that  the  ''  vessica  "  for  their  departure 
was  not  ready,  but  this  is  merely  a  subterfuge. 

The  Italian  Ambassador  knows  nothing 
directly  of  what  is  happening  in  Italy,  and 
seems  oppressed.  When  I  walked  with  him 
and  we  passed  the  British  Embassy  garden, 
we  thought  of  entering,  but  decided  not  to,  for 
political    significance    is    attached    to    all    our 


40  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

movements.  Only  the  other  day,  when  Mrs. 
M.  went  there,  the  Germans  said  that  because 
the  British  fleet  was  at  the  Dardanelles  she 
had  gone  to  prepare  the  Embassy! 

Wangenheim  announces  that  affairs  have 
taken  a  more  favourable  turn,  but  he  would 
do  so  even  if  he  knew  the  rupture  were  to 
take  place  next  day.  In  the  event  of  war,  he 
says,  the  Germans  will  occupy  Milan  in  twenty- 
four  hours. 

Weitz,  his  shadow,  no  longer  bows  to 
Italians,  and  declares  that  within  forty-eight 
hours  the  most  ominous  decision  in  2000  years 
will  be  taken.  After  blustering  to  the  President 
of  the  Italian  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  latter 
replied  to  him  that  ''we  may  prove  a  David  to 
your  Goliath." 

Weitz  informs  every  one  that  at  the  German 
Embassy  a  golden  book  is  kept  of  the  records 
and  deeds  of  every  one.  And  if  Germany  is 
victorious  there  will  be  many  scores  to  pay  in 
the  future.     An  odd  method  of  cajolery. 

Djavid  1  has  returned  full  of  the  merit  of 
German  preparations  which  have  already  begun 
for  next  winter.  He  says  they  have  bought  the 
copper  they  needed  at  Bordeaux,  of  all  places, 
and  brought  it  into  Germany  vid  Switzerland! 

The    fifty    hostages    have    returned    from 

*  Former  Minister  of  Finance. 


THE  HOSTAGES  AT  GALLIPOLI      41 

GallipoII  after  remaining  there  five  days.  When 
they  arrived  the  place  was  deserted  because  of 
the  bombardment  on  the  Sunday  before.  The 
latter  killed  sixty  soldiers  and  four  civilians, 
and  as  the  General  Headquarters  was  present 
at  the  time  it  cannot  be  called  unjustified.  The 
hostages  were  put  into  empty  houses  and  made 
to  shift  for  themselves,  having  to  buy  their 
own  bedding  and  food,  otherwise  they  were 
not  badly  treated. 

The  two  newspaper  men  who  went  along, 
came  back  in  ignorance  of  what  was  going  on 
at  the  Dardanelles.  They  heard  nothing  save 
the  distant  cannon,  and  all  they  saw  were  the 
passing  transports.  I  telephoned  news  of  their 
return  to  Wangenheim,  who  informed  me  of 
the  torpedoing  of  a  battleship  the  previous 
night  at  eleven  o'clock.  I  said  "  Indeed,"  which 
seemed  the  most  fitting  expression  for  a  neutral, 
and  asked  the  name,  but  this  he  ignored. 

A  French  renegade,  the  Marquis  X.,  who 
goes  under  the  Turkish  name  of  N.  Bey,  called 
here  again.  He  is  a  short,  dapper  old  man  who 
wears  a  fez,  but  has  under  it  a  brighter  expres- 
sion than  the  usual  Oriental.  He  became  a 
Moslem  for  harem  purposes,  and  lives  in  a 
curious  collection  of  pavilions  on  the  Bosphorus. 

In  the  afternoon  we  drove  to  Yildiz,  which 
seemed    deserted    after    the    Hamidian    days, 


42  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

though  wounded  are  there.  I  took  some  books 
to  the  French  prisoner  at  the  hospital,  and  also 
to  a  sick  officer  who  asked  for  literature. 

Returning,  we  passed  through  the  lovely 
valley  below  Chichli,  where  Yussuf  Izeddin's 
pavilion  stands.  It  was  all  green  and  peaceful 
save  for  some  boys  kicking  a  football.  No 
scent  of  war. 

All  departures  are  again  stopped,  and  a 
Greek  friend  who  wanted  to  leave  to-morrow 
is  greatly  worried.  I  thought  at  first  it  was 
due  to  a  movement  of  troops,  but  the  trains  go 
as  far  as  Adrianople.  It  is  probably  an  ex- 
pedient to  retain  Italians  here,  until  the  decision 
of  Rome  is  known.  As  Garroni  had  complained 
about  withholding  the  travelling  permits  for 
Italians,  no  one  at  all  can  leave.  Yet  M.,  who 
had  been  to  see  Talaat,  found  him  greatly  re- 
lieved about  Italy.  He  thought  Austria  would 
make  the  necessary  concessions,  and  there  would 
be  no  war.     I  believe  nothing  I  hear. 

May  14. — I  called  on  G.  to  ask  if  he  had 
received  confirmation  about  the  successful 
termination  of  the  negotiations  with  Austria. 
He  knew  nothing,  and  thought  optimism  pre- 
cipitate; but  the  situation  seemed  improved, 
and  he  was  under  the  impression  that  Austria 
had  made  a  concrete  offer.  I  asked  if  this  was 
to  be  for  immediate  cession,  or  at  the  end  of 


ENTENTE  ERRORS  43 

the  war.  Neutralist  as  he  was,  he  declared  he 
would  prefer  war  to  postponing  the  surrender 
till  peace. 

We  spoke  of  the  war  and  of  the  errors  of 
the  Triple  Entente — their  efforts  had  always 
been  spasmodic,  and  had  remained  fruitless  in 
consequence.  Here  in  Turkey  their  expedition 
in  Mesopotamia  was  never  pushed,  though  in 
the  beginning  they  could  easily  have  reached 
Bagdad.  At  Suez  the  Turkish  army  was 
allowed  to  retreat  unmolested,  while  they  were 
in  utter  disorder,  and  were  saved  only  by  the 
bright  moonlight.  In  Syria  no  landings  were 
effected,  though  the  Arabs  would  have  welcomed 
these.  Smyrna  was  a  bluff,  while  the  Darda- 
nelles have  been  tried  without  concert  with  the 
Russians,  who  never  pursued  their  success  in 
the  Caucasus.  If  all  these  efforts  had  been 
simultaneous  and  undertaken  in  sufficient  force, 
the  Turks  would  have  been  lost,  the  Balkans 
would  have  risen,  and,  as  he  phrased  it,  one 
might  have  motored  from  here  to  the  Car- 
pathians. 

On  the  German  side  as  well,  he  thought 
things  were  not  very  bright,  and  they  were 
*'  sucking  a  dry  nail." 

X.  professed  to  have  news  that  the  London 
season  was  at  its  height,  that  the  Derby  was 
being  run,  and  that  only  400,000  English  were 


44  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

In  France.  *'  They  try  to  have  all  the  rest  of 
the  world  fight  for  them,  while  they  enjoy 
themselves,"  was  his  remark,  and  he  added 
that  the  English  wanted  Italian  aid  at  the 
Dardanelles. 

Later  came  report  of  Salandra's  resignation ! 
What  a  success  for  Buelow.  It  is  the  Venizelos 
coup  over  again. 

We  took  tea  with  the  E.  Beys.  They  had 
first  accepted  to  dine  with  us  to-morrow,  but 
when  E.  heard  that  Ismet  ^  was  to  be  at  the 
dinner,  he  declined.  The  latter  is  too  fanatical, 
and  detests  the  presence  of  Turkish  ladies  in 
society.  So  does  the  Grand  Vizier.  There 
are  reactionary  elements  here,  much  to  Madame 
E.'s  disgust. 

May  15. — The  entire  Christian  population 
of  the  Upper  Bosphorus  is  being  expelled.  At 
first  it  was  only  to  be  those  beyond  Buyukdere, 
but  now  the  measure  has  been  extended  as 
far  as  the  Italian  Embassy  at  Therapia,  and 
thousands  will  be  destitute.  The  English 
Embassy  gardener  came  to  ask  what  he  was 
to  do.  Apparently  there  Is  the  usual  story 
about  Greek  boatmen  signalling  to  the  Russians 
outside.  The  same  signalling  and  spy  mania 
about  which  people  are  crazy  from  the  Scottish 
coast  to  the  Black  Sea.     After  all,  one  cannot 

^  The  Prefect  of  Constantinople.         ,       •       ' 


GERMAN  VIEWS  OF  THE  WAR     45 

be  too  hard  on  the  Turks,  yet  the  Greeks  here 
concerned  are  all  Ottoman  subjects. 

A  mysterious  message  came  to  the  Embassy 
that  now  was  the  time  to  help  the  two  Turkish 
ladies.     I  expect  it  refers   to   the   relatives  of 

Prince  ,    but   we   can   do   nothing  in   the 

matter.  It  is  hard  enough  to  look  out  for 
Americans.  In  the  evening  Ismet  Bey,  Izzet 
Pasha,  Colonel  von  Leipzig,  ^  who  is  an  old 
friend  of  former  years,  Anckarsvard,^  and  the 
C.'s  dined  with  us.  To  avoid  a  question  of 
precedence  which  was  doubtful,  I  myself  sat 
at  the  bottom  of  the  table.  Ismet  has  the 
reputation  of  being  fanatical,  but  possesses 
breeding  and  cultivation.  He  does  his  best  as 
Prefect  to  oppose  the  vulgarization  of  the  city, 
and  seemed  to  like  my  suggestion  to  lay  out 
the  flower-beds  in  Oriental  rather  than  French 
style — Bengal  roses  and  iris,  instead  of  begonias 
and  geraniums. 

Leipzig  admitted  that  the  Zeppelins  were  a 
disappointment,  and  remarked  that  the  English 
at  the  Dardanelles  had  an  extraordinarily  good 
observer  in  their  captive  balloon.  I  asked  how 
long  he  thought  the  war  would  last.  He  believed 
very  long.  To  take  any  other  view  was  to 
ignore  the  English  character,  and  he  impressed 

1  The  German  Military  Attach^. 

2  The  Swedish  Minister. 


46  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

me  as  being  less  sanguine  of  the  result  than 
any  German  I  had  seen,  and  not  at  all  Anglo- 
phobe.  He  spoke  of  Repington's  criticisms  of 
the  German  manoeuvres  published  a  few  years 
ago.  He  must  have  been  bilious  when  he 
wrote  them,  he  remarked. 

May  1 6. — We  drove  out  to  the  Girls'  College 
at  Arnautkeuy,  where  I  had  to  deliver  an  im- 
promptu sermon.  I  tried  to  prepare  it  on  the 
way  out,  for  there  was  no  time  yesterday.  The 
whole  thing  was  rather  a  jumble  in  my  mind. 

We  lunched  at  the  College,  which  is  a  bit 
of  America  on  the  Bosphorus,  and  saw  the  new 
buildings.  The  principal,  w^hose  lifework  they 
are,  lives  in  terror  of  their  being  taken  over  by 
the  military  for  barracks  or  hospitals  uses,  and  it 
is  hard  to  assure  her  of  the  contrary  these  days. 

Dr.  McN.,  a  Canadian  missionary  in  charge 
of  an  American  school  at  Ismidt,  has  just  been 
sent  to  Tchoroum,  on  the  charge  of  being  in 
correspondence  with  the  English.  I  hope  he 
will  not  have  to  walk  the  w^hole  way,  like  one 
poor  Frenchman,  who  was  sent  both  there  and 
back  on  foot,  perhaps  five  hundred  miles. 

The  French  sisters  are  still  in  prison  await- 
ing trial — twenty  or  more  of  them,  crowded  in 
one  small  room,  without  beds  or  conveniences. 
Their  friends  or  enemies  have  become  most  indis- 
creet, writing  to  them  from  abroad.  The  smallest 


AUSTRIANS  WISH  FOR  PEACE      47 

hint  or  allusion  makes  the  Censor  suspicious 
and  gives  grist  to  the  court-martial. 

One  girl,  I  heard  of  here,  was  arrested 
because  she  received  a  postcard,  which  asked 
if  she  would  send  a  "  c.-p.,"  meaning  carte- 
postale.  The  nun's  friends  in  France  were 
stupid  enough  to  write  them,  using  invisible 
ink,  and  this  was  discovered. 

Pallavicini  called  to  speak  of  Austrian 
successes  and  German  successes  and  Turkish 
successes.  The  Russians,  he  believes,  will  never 
again  take  the  offensive,  and  the  Dardanelles 
remain  impassable.  Yet  Austria  would  like 
peace,  and  he  hoped  America  might  force  it  on 
unwilling  humanity. 

We  are  to  make  war  unless  the  others  make 
peace.  How  remote  it  all  seems.  I  agree 
with  Leipzig  that  peace  is  still  far  off.  British 
optimism  on  the  subject  seems  absurd.  One 
wonders  at  any  one  allowing  himself  to  be 
quoted  that  it  will  be  for  June — possibly  June 
of  1917. 

May  17. — Mile.  Marie,  the  housekeeper, 
who  was  at  Therapia  yesterday,  came  back 
with  harrowing  tales.  The  place  is  full  of 
refugees  from  the  Upper  Bosphorus  who  have 
been  expelled  by  the  Turks.  They  are  selling 
their  effects  by  auction  for  a  few  piastres.  The 
local  poor  were  very  kind,  and  even  families 


48  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

living  in  two  rooms  were  giving  up  one  of  these 
to  those  in  greater  distress.  Mile.  Marie  was 
so  affected  that  she  could  not  eat  her  dinner. 
But  she  graphically  described  the  splash  in 
the  water  caused  by  Russian  shells,  during 
yesterday's  bombardment. 

The  Grand  Rabbi  called  with  his  tale  of 
woe  about  the  Bosphorus  expulsion.  It  affects 
Jews  as  well  as  Greeks  and  Armenians,  and  is 
only  a  sequel  of  what  has  happened  at  the 
Dardanelles.  The  population  first  took  refuge 
at  Gallipoli  and  Lapsaki,  but  now  they  are 
expelled  from  there.  Five  thousand  destitute 
Jews  are  a  charge  on  the  community.  And 
how  small  is  this  community  in  comparison 
with  the  others. 

In  many  cases  Jewish  families  whose 
fathers  are  fighting  in  the  Turkish  army  have 
been  ordered  to  leave.  The  Government  allows 
them  nothing ;  only  quite  exceptionally  they  are 
given  three  francs  a  month.  The  men  are  ex- 
pected to  fight,  while  their  families  are  expelled 
destitute  from  their  homes.  Even  the  infirm 
have  to  go.  I  heard  of  one  case,  a  bedridden 
Armenian  woman  of  seventy  ordered  to  leave. 

The  Turkish  neighbors  try  to  get  them  to 
sell  what  land  they  have,  telling  them  they  will 
never  return.  One  woman  who  possessed  a 
field  worth  £120  was  offered  £8  for  it. 


GERMANS  AND  INDIA  49 

I  hear  that  Baron  von  Oppenheim,  of  Cairo 
fame,  is  about  to  start  on  a  second  expedition 
to  Afghanistan  to  stir  up  trouble  in  India.  The 
first  mission  proved  a  failure,  and  the  money 
which  had  been  put  into  native  hands  disap- 
peared. He  probably  goes  to  see  that  it  should 
now  be  properly  spent. 

An  Indian,  Prince  Mehmet,  left  here  the 
other  day  on  the  same  errand  with  £10,000. 
The  Germans  will  leave  no  stone  un- 
turned. 

At  the  Club  I  saw  Wangenheim,  who  was 
so  amiable  that  I  suspect  him  of  something. 
Talaat,  who  was  also  at  the  Club,  is  furious  at 
the  English  and  French,  because  Eyoub  Sabri 
and  Zinnoun  ^  are  still  detained  at  Malta.  He 
wants  every  one  to  know  that  he  will  do  nothing 
more  for  any  British  or  French:  "  Let  them 
all  rot." 

May  18. — I  met  Garroni  at  the  Dutch  Lega- 
tion fresh  from  the  settlement  of  his  "  incident." 
He  had  crossed  the  street  in  front  of  the  Italian 
Embassy,  between  two  companies  of  troops 
who  were  marching  by.  Although  he  had  in 
no*  way  delayed  their  step,  an  officer  rushed  up 
and  struck  him  with  his  sword  still  in  the  scab- 
bard.    Garroni  promptly  went   to  the   Grand 

1  Two  influential  members  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress  interned  at  Malta. 


50  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Vizier  to  demand  reparation — not  as  an  Ambas- 
sador, but  for  the  unwarranted  assault  on  a 
civilian,  since  the  Germans  have  brought  Zabern 
methods  here.  The  Grand  Vizier  called  at 
once  to  present  his  apologies,  said  the  officer 
would  be  punished,  and  at  Garroni's  request 
that  publicity  should  be  given  to  the  affair. 
The  world  would  know  that  it  was  settled  at 
the  same  time  that  it  had  occurred.  A  more 
excitable  Ambassador  might  easily  have  given 
an  uncomfortable  twist  to  this. 

I  have  just  gone  through  a  fat  dossier 
on  Pan- Islamic  agitation  which  is  going  on 
everywhere  mainly  with  German  funds.  San 
Francisco,  oddly  enough,  is  one  of  its  main 
centres.  Here,  however,  the  movement  is  a 
failure,  and  has  been  succeeded  by  an  old 
Turkish  revival.  The  Persian  Ambassador 
told  me  that  much  the  same  thing  is  happening 
in  his  country,  where  the  younger  generation 
are  all  dropping  their  Mohammedan  Arabic 
names  for  Persian  ones,  like  Cyrus  and  Arta- 
xerxes. 

With  Colonel  M.  and  Colonel  P.  I  talked 
over  the  inevitable  Dardanelles — one  can  think 
of  nothing  else. 

They  are  bringing  up  troops  from  Syria  as 
well  as  from  Smyrna  and  Adrianople.  The 
losses  have,  of  course,  been  immense,  but  so 


ARMENIAN  PERSECUTION         51 

far  as  we  know  the  Allies  have  not  yet  gained 
the  main  ridge  of  the  peninsula. 

Colonel  M.  still  believes  the  Kabe  Tepe  ^ 
landing  a  mistake.  The  troops  should  have 
been  concentrated  at  the  point  and  then  pushed 
forward.  As  it  is  they  too  must  have  suffered 
greatly.  During  the  last  few  days  there  is  said 
to  have  been  a  kind  of  truce,  owing  to  the  vast 
number  of  unburied  bodies,  which  poisoned  the 
air.  ' 

May  19. — A  quiet  day  with  disquieting 
reports.  Those  from  the  interior  are  harrow- 
ing. At  Konia,  where  Armenians,  expelled 
from  the  Zeitoun,  have  been  sent  home- 
less and  penniless,  the  American  Red  Cross 
is  not  even  permitted  to  distribute  relief. 
Armenians  call  it  a  wilful  policy  of  extermi- 
nation. 

Certain  of  the  measures  taken  make  murder 
almost  kind.  One  poor  woman  threw  her  baby 
out  of  the  car  window,  having  no  milk  left. 
Whole  regions  are  suddenly  depopulated,  and 
Moslems  put  in  the  place  of  the  dispossessed 
Christians.  Religious  persecution  seems  even 
more  hideous  when  carried  out  by  a  govern- 
ment of  atheists. 

On  the  Bosphorus,  too,  the  people  are  in 
the  utmost  misery.     Bedridden  and  infirm  have 

*  Anzac. 


52  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

been  included  in  the  measures  of  expulsion, 
and  no  exceptions  are  made. 

Talaat  was  asked  to  leave  the  gardeners 
of  the  British  and  French  Embassies,  but  he 
replied  with,  ''  Put  Moslems  in  their  place." 

A  Press  communique  has  come  out  with  an 
absurd  version  of  the  Garroni  incident.  No 
mention  is  made  of  the  officer's  punishment, 
or  of  the  Grand  Vizier's  visit  of  excuse.  But 
Garroni  does  not  want  a  personal  matter  to  be 
injected  into  the  present  atmosphere  and  will 
drop  the  affair. i  Another  Italian  received  far 
more  serious  handling  from  the  same  troops, 
who  had  freshly  arrived  from  Syria. 

The  Censorship  is  nothing  if  not  absurd. 
Langa  Rascano  ^  had  announced  the  customary 
birthday  reception  at  the  Roumanian  Legation. 
But  his  name  was  struck  out,  and  in  place  they 
put  "  on  recevra."  The  Minister's  departure 
for  Bucarest  must  be  ignored  by  the  crowd 
lest  political  significance  be  attached  to  it. 

Our  communiques  are  sometimes  amusing. 
Those  from  the  Dardanelles  have  become  fairly 
sober,  since  they  repeatedly  exterminated  the 
Allies  during  the  early  days  of  the  operations. 
But  from  near  Smyrna  comes  a  report  by 
the  official   Milli  Agency,   of  how   two  heroic 

*  At  Stamboul  a  Turkish  friend  heard  he  had  provoked  it! 
2  The  Roumanian  Charge  d'Affaires. 


EYOUB  53 

gendarmes  drove  away  a  landing  party  of  four 
hundred  French! 

After  lunch  word  came  that  an  officer  and 
some  men  wanted  to  enter  the  British  Embassy 
to  look  for  "coal  and  other  things,"  and  asked 
for  a  dragoman  to  accompany  them!  I  got 
word  through  to  Talaat,  and  the  latter  at  once 
gave  orders  to  stop  this. 

With  Helene  I  drove  to  Eyoub,  and  for 
the  first  time  visited  the  mosque  where  for- 
merly no  non-Moslem  could  tread;  with  its 
city  of  tombs  in  disrepair,  its  minarets  peering 
through  the  cypresses,  it  has  the  Eastern  charm 
which  is  disappearing  here.  From  there  we 
drove  half  round  the  Walls.  My  impression 
of  their  grandeur  was  as  fresh  as  when  I  first 
saw  them.  Jolting  along  the  worst  of  roads, 
one  feels  it  is  yet  the  finest  avenue  in  the 
world. 

Returning  to  Pera,  I  read  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg's  speech  in  the  Reichstag  outlining  the 
concessions  to  Italy.     Is  it  peace  or  war? 

May  20. — The  wounded  have  again  come 
in  great  numbers.  Three  transports  full  arrived 
yesterday,  and  at  Tash  Kishlar  alone  they  were 
expecting  600.  Yet  the  official  bulletin  speaks 
only  of  an  engagement  in  which  two  Ottomans 
were  slightly  wounded — two  months  ago,  after 
a  severe  bombardment,  they  admitted  that  a 


54  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

camel  had  been  grazed.  On  another  occasion 
it  was  "  a  mule  of  Hungarian  origin/*  while  at 
Suez  the  English  fled  "  frightened  by  their  own 
shadow"!     We  are  progressing! 

On  opening  the  Pesther  Lloyd  at  the  Club, 
I  saw  telegraphed  from  Maidos  on  the  15th, 
the  report  of  a  battle  in  which  an  entire  British 
division  had  been  "  massacriert/*  and  the  Allies' 
losses  in  that  one  engagement  were  placed  at 
over  30,000.  I  showed  it  to  Wangenheim, 
and  remarked  that  we  knew  nothing  about  it 
here,  but  he  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders, 
and  turning  the  conversation  on  sport,  offered 
me  an  Irish  hunter  to  ride.  A  German  officer 
just  back  from  the  Dardanelles  says  that  both 
sides  were  so  strongly  entrenched  that  neither 
could  drive  out  the  other.  The  Turks  appear 
to  have  made  good  their  wastage.  One  entire 
division  and  units  from  two  others  have  been 
sent  down  there.  Even  if  their  losses  exceed 
50,000  men  they  should  now  be  as  strong  as 
before. 

We  have  received  a  new  proposal  for  the 
exchange  of  belligerent  subjects.  Every  one 
over  forty-five  and  under  seventeen,  including 
priests  and  infirm,  are  to  be  exchanged  on  a 
basis  of  reciprocity,  but  plus  Eyoub  Sabri  and 
Zinnoun.  I  doubt  if  it  goes  through.  It 
would  take  months  to  bring  people  here  from 


TALAAT  AND  ENVER  55 

the  interior,  and  if  Eyoub  Sabri  and  Zinnoun 
were  released  they  would  soon  stop  the  others 
going  for  special  reasons  or  no  reasons  at  all. 
Talaat  blocks  what  Enver  grants,  and  Enver 
blocks  what  Talaat  grants,  and  so  it  goes  on. 
I  saw  Talaat  at  the  Club  playing  poker  as  if 
everything  were  serene. 

Italy  seems  on  the  verge  of  war.  Here  we 
know  nothing,  but  I  hear  that  at  Rome  Giolitti 
dares  not  show  himself. 

The  Russians  bombarded  the  Bosphorus 
this  morning. 

May  21. — Walking  towards  the  Embassy, 
the  wounded  were  again  passing  in  trams.  It 
is  such  a  daily  spectacle  that  no  one  bothers 
about  it  any  longer.  The  official  communique 
hints  at  heavy  fighting,  and  the  "  success 
almost  entirely  achieved  "  seems  to  cover  a 
repulse.  It  is  an  old  habit  of  the  Turks  to 
veil  a  defeat  by  announcing  a  victory. 

The  Allied  losses  are  doubtless  terribly 
heavy.  Here  the  Turks  claim  that  35,000 
have  been  killed,  and  Captain  W.,  who  believes 
that  the  estimate  is  not  far  off,  places  it  at 
32,000. 

The  demonstration  at  Yenikeuy  proved 
expensive,  and  an  American  journalist  saw  the 
diary  of  a  Turk  on  which  an  English  prisoner 
had  written,  "  of  my  regiment  only  three  are 


56         ITALY   ENTERS   THE   WAR 

left."     The  Turk  could  not  read  this,  and  asked 
him  to  translate  it. 

Four  American  correspondents  leave  to- 
morrow for  the  Dardanelles,  which  sounds 
confident  for  the  Turks. 

W.  thinks  that  with  less  than  half  a  million 
men  the  place  will  never  be  taken.  The  best 
chance  was  missed  when  the  attack  of  March  i8 
remained  without  a  sequence,  and  six  weeks  of 
fresh  preparation  were  given  to  prepare  the 
land  defence  and  collect  troops  from  all  over 
the  Empire.  Personally,  I  believe  it  a  capital 
error  to  have  begun  the  enterprise  so  late,  but 
it  would  now  be  a  worse  one  to  abandon  it. 

At  the  Italian  Embassy  they  were  still 
without  telegrams  from  Rome,  but  Wangen- 
heim  himself  brought  the  news  of  Salandra's 
overwhelming  majority  in  the  Chamber. 

I  talked  with  Garroni  about  the  protection 
of  the  Italians,  which  is  to  be  my  special  prov- 
ince. He  enjoined  me  to  remind  the  Turks 
that  in  their  own  interest  it  would  be  better 
not  to  envenom  the  situation  by  gratuitous 
maltreatment.  He  described  how  he  had  un- 
dertaken the  protection  of  Russians  here,  and 
of  Turks  in  Russia,  and  consented  only  to  the 
incarceration  of  suspicious  characters. 

Afterwards  I  talked  over  the  protection  of 
Russian  interests  with  Serafimow,  who  expects 


TURKISH  MORAL  57 

to  leave  with  the  Italians.  I  shall  try  to  save 
the  Russian  Archaeological  Institute  by  sug- 
gesting to  Edhem  1  that  he  should  take  it 
over. 

Opinion  in  Russia  is  again  very  excited  over 
Constantinople,  and  does  not  relish  the  fact  that 
the  attack  hitherto  should  have  come  only  from 
the  Western  side. 

May  22. — More  reinforcements  for  the  Dar- 
danelles passed  under  my  windows  to  wake  me 
early.  They  swung  along  at  a  fair  clip,  in 
columns  of  four  and  five.  Every  day  they 
send  them.  They  are  dispatched  to  Rodosto 
and  from  there  marched  cross  country,  prob- 
ably crossing  the  Straits  at  night,  when  they 
are  safe  from  indirect  fire.  I  hear  that  no 
quarter  is  given  any  more  and  no  prisoners 
taken.  Most  of  the  fighting  is  with  the 
bayonet.  Dr.  P.,  who  works  daily  at  the 
hospital,  told  me  there  was  a  great  difference 
in  the  moral  of  the  wounded.  Those  who 
came  in  the  beginning  were  certain  of  success, 
for  they  had  seen  the  first  landing  parties  re- 
pulsed, but  now  they  are  far  more  despondent, 
saying  they  cannot  fight  against  the  ships. 
Some  had  received  bayonet  wounds  on  the 
heights  above  Maidos. 

It  looks  as  if  the  Allies  were  progressing, 

*  Director  of  the  Museum  at  Constantinople. 


58  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

though  we  will  probably  know  nothing  positive 
till  the  scuttle  begins  here,  and  for  the  present 
the  Germans  keep  up  Turkish  confidence. 
Italy  entering  the  war  has  been  a  sad  blow  to 
them.  Turkish  attendance  at  the  Club  is  a 
sure  barometer,  and  yesterday  it  was  deserted. 
It  is  the  same  at  the  Red  Crescent,  which  is 
thronged  with  ladies  whenever  Turkish  vic- 
tories are  announced.  For  the  first  time, 
Wangenheim  was  not  at  his  usual  bridge-table. 
As  a  sop  he  gives  it  out  that  Italy  will  not 
declare  war  against  Turkey,  though  I  hear  the 
Treaty  of  Lausanne  will  also  be  denounced,  on 
the  ground  that  Turkish  officers  are  still  fight- 
ing in  Tripoli.  Certainly  Rhodes  and  the 
Islands  are  tempting  baits. 

At  the  Italian  Embassy  they  have  received 
no  telegrams  in  three  days;  all  are  withheld 
from  them. 

The  Turks  now  talk  of  the  expulsion  of 
all  non-Moslems  from  the  Bosphorus  as  far  as 
Hissar,  and  say  that  the  measure  had  been 
suggested  by  the  Germans! 

By  a  new  regulation  one  can  no  longer 
travel  on  the  ferry-boat  without  special  per- 
mission of  the  police!  How  much  further  can 
things  go! 

Enver  was  approached  to  rescind  the  order 
expelling    Armenians    from    Erzeroum — 50,000 


DUM-DUMS  59 

or  more  are  Involved,  but  the  Turks  dislike 
solicitation  for  the  Armenians.  Enver  spoke 
of  the  English  using  dum-dums,  but  when 
Dr.  P.,  who  was  present,  stated  that  in  all  his 
hospital  work  he  had  neither  seen  nor  heard 
of  any  such  cases,  Enver  replied  he  did  not 
care,  as  anyhow  shrapnel  was  worse  than  dum- 
dums. 

May  23. — Italy  joins  the  Allies!  I  met 
Garroni  outside  his  Embassy,  and  walked  with 
him.  In  view  of  events  he  wanted  to  show 
himself  publicly.  He  thought  that  a  sudden 
change  of  opinion  must  have  come  about  in 
Italy,  which  he  was  at  a  loss  to  understand. 

A  little  later  Pallavicini  came  to  call  on 
him  for  the  last  time,  and  they  almost  fell  into 
each  other's  arms.  N.  is  of  course  radiant,  and 
when  asked  how  he  was,  he  answered  "  mieux." 
He  has  preached  war  since  the  beginning. 
The  Germans  cabaled  against  him,  and  for  a 
long  time  his  position  here  was  difficult.  I 
told  him  that  he  was  the  first  person  I  had 
been  warned  against!  Wangenheim,  too,  had 
intrigued  against  me  by  telling  the  Grand 
Vizier  and  Talaat  that  I  disliked  the  Turks, 
and  tried  to  establish  this  legend  in  order  to 
destroy  my  possible  influence. 

Serafimow,  on  whom  I  had  called  to  talk 
over    certain     Russian    matters,     showed    me 


60  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

copies  of  the  Sibill-i-Reshad,  the  organ  of  the 
Moslem  clergy  here,  which  is  at  daggers 
drawn  with  the  atheistic  Sheikh-ul- Islam.  His 
recent  fetva,  making  the  Sultan  a  Ghazi  after 
the  apocryphal  victory  at  the  Dardanelles, 
was  published  by  them  in  the  advertisement 
pages.  They  are  very  opposed  to  new  Pan- 
Islamism  because  of  its  exclusively  Turkish 
apex.  As  they  contain  numerous  Arabic, 
Persian,  and  even  Seldjuk  elements,  they  aim 
rather  at  the  fraternity  of  Islam.  It  is  largely 
due  to  their  passive  resistance  that  the  Holy 
War  fell  so  flat.  It  could  not  be  proclaimed 
against  only  one  set  of  infidels. 

The  Russians  have  landed  a  force  near 
Soungouldak,  and  destroyed  the  German  coal- 
mines inland.  They  have  been  repeatedly 
bombarding  the  neighbouring  places,  and  little 
coal  now  arrives  here.  Yesterday  the  Prefect 
called  a  meeting  of  the  directors  of  all  the 
public  services  to  devise  means  to  curtail  its 
consumption.  The  steamship  service  of  the 
Golden  Horn  is  to  be  stopped,  and  three 
separate  requisition  orders  were  at  once  made 
out  to  one  concern  for  its  stock  of  600  tons. 
Street-lighting  is  to  be  diminished  and  cafes 
to  close  earlier.  All  the  coal  is  needed  for 
the  three  factories  of  military  supplies. 

The    Italian    representative    on    the    Debt 


GERMAN  GOLD  ARRIVES  6i 

told  me  that  he  has  been  approached  by  Hun- 
garians here  to  say  their  country  was  sick  of 
the  Germans  and  ready  for  peace.  He  was 
requested  to  inform  Rome  of  this,  and  in  case 
listeners  were  found  they  would  then  indicate 
their  principals.  It  is  the  old  story  over  again. 
Hungary  would  make  peace  if  she  could  keep 
all  she  has.  But  how  would  that  satisfy  Serbia 
or  Roumania?  And  Hungarian  opinion  is  not 
yet  prepared  to  abandon  territory.  For  Russia 
this  should  be  a  useful  leverage  to  work  in 
Roumania.  The  latter  receded  when  Giolitti 
seemed  on  top,  and  at  once  allowed  the  transit 
of  German  gold  here,  after  it  had  been  refiised 
a  fortnight  before.  Ten  million  francs  arrived 
as  an  advance  on  the  loan  made  Turkey,  of 
which  two-thirds  comes  from  Berlin  and  one- 
third  from  Vienna. 

Munitions,  too,  have  lately  arrived  through 
Roumania,  and  Austria  is  said  to  have  offered 
territorial  cor  cessions. 

Will  Buelow  now  be  sent  to  B nearest? 

Yet  L.  believes  in  war  from  his  side  as 
well. 

German  ladies  are  leaving  and  German 
officers  arriving.  Seventy-three  came  last 
night.  To-day  the  escaped  part  of  the  Emden 
crew  reached  here  from  Arabia  after  their 
many   adventures.     They   were    brought   over 


62  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

from  the  Asiatic  side  on  a  destroyer,  and  then 
marched  in  triumph  through  the  streets  pre- 
ceded by  a  band,  a  squad  of  firemen  and  Bedri. 
There  was  no  enthusiasm  except  from  some 
Germans,  and  those  of  the  Embassy  appeared 
depressed.  Von  Spee,  who  is  a  brother  of  the 
Falkland  Island  admiral,  criticized  the  fuss 
made  over  one  lieutenant  where  so  many 
thousands  were  daily  risking  their  lives  in 
silence.  Oddly  enough  Bedri's  police  rough- 
handled  Weitz  of  all  men.  I  saw  the  proces- 
sion on  my  return  from  the  Scorpion,  where 
I  had  gone  for  tea.  I  met  there  an  American 
newspaper  man  fresh  from  Athens,  who  related 
a  long  interview  with  the  King,  the  most 
interesting  parts  of  which  he  had  not  been  per- 
mitted to  use.  The  latter  told  him  that  he 
was  ready  to  work  with  Venizelos  if  his  party 
should  again  come  into  power,  but  he  did  not 
disguise  his  own  pro-German  sympathies. 
The  recent  downfall  of  Venizelos  was  attrib- 
uted to  a  conspiracy  of  the  princes,  who  found 
him  too  powerful. 

The  Gounaris  Cabinet  tried  to  renew 
negotiations  with  the  Triple  Entente,  but  the 
latter  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  They 
must  rue  the  day  at  Athens  when  they  neg- 
lected to  follow  the  advice  of  Venizelos.  The 
place   is   seething   with   revolution.     A   Greek 


TURKISH  REINFORCEMENTS       63 

republic  may  be  established  should  Greece 
get  nothing  from  the  war. 

May  24. — Troops  passed  on  their  way  to 
the  Dardanelles.  First  artillery  and  later 
three  regiments  who  had  been  quartered  at 
Buyukdere.  They  were  well  equipped  and 
one  of  the  regiments  had  with  it  a  machine- 
gun  section.  But  as  usual  they  were  under- 
officered.  Never  more  than  two  to  the  company 
of  about  200  men,  nor  do  the  officers  look 
keen. 

I  hear  at  the  hospital  some  of  the  wounded 
complained  that  the  officers  ordered  them  to 
charge  while  they  themselves  lagged  behind. 
On  the  other  hand,  one  officer  said  he  was  the 
only  survivor  of  eighteen  in  his  regiment. 

A  dragoman  from  the  Italian  Embassy 
brings  us  reports  of  the  Allies'  success  at  the 
Dardanelles,  at  the  same  time  as  £T.6ooo 
in  gold  which  the  Italians  want  to  deposit 
with  us.  But  though  they  believe  we  will  have 
the  protection  of  their  interests,  they  know 
nothing.  No  telegrams  have  reached  them 
in  the  last  four  days,  except  unimportant  ones. 
It  looks  as  if  the  Turks  were  able  to  distin- 
guish the  different  ciphers,  and  it  is  said  that 
Berlin  has  presented  the  Porte  with  a  copy  of 
the  Italian.  Since  the  entry  of  Italy  is  certain 
Wangenheim    has    told    the    Turks     that    an 


64  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

arrangement  will  be  made  by  which  Italy  will 
remain  at  peace  with  them  while  fighting  only 
Austria.  At  the  Club,  Hakki  Pasha  cherished 
hopes  of  this  kind,  but  to  my  mind  they  are 
illusions,  for  Italy  will  want  to  participate,  and 
will  insist  on  its  place  in  the  wash-up  here.  Yet 
the  Turks  like  to  fondle  such  hopes.  When 
last  October,  after  the  bombardment  of  Sebas- 
topol,  the  French  and  English  Ambassadors 
came  to  declare  war,  the  Grand  Vizier  ex- 
pressed real  surprise.  "  Why  should  you? 
We  are  very  fond  of  you."  He  could  not 
understand  why  it  was  not  possible  to  be  solely 
at  war  with  Russia. 

At  dinner  we  had  the  Willebois,  the  E. 
Beys,  X.  Kahn,  and  Trautmansdorf.  The  usual 
crowd  came  in  afterward  for  bridge. 

Mdme.  E.  told  me  she  spends  her  time 
writing  letters  for  the  wounded  in  the  hospitals. 
But  though  most  of  them  are  married  they 
will  never  think  of  writing  to,  or  even 
mentioning,  their  wives,  but  only  their  male 
relatives.  With  lower-class  Moslems,  women 
must  never  be  alluded  to.  I  talked  over  the 
Russian  Archaeological  Institute  with  E.  Bey, 
and  he  became  quite  excited,  assuring  me  that 
the  Turks  would  give  proof  that  their  respect 
for  learning  was  greater  than  that  shown  by 
supposedly    more    civilized    nations.     He    told 


PAN-ISLAM  ISM  65 

me,  however,  that  the  books  would  not  be 
sent  to  Konia,  which  was  what  I  wanted. 

I  talked  Pan-Islamism  and  the  poetry  of  the 
East  with  X.  Khan.  He  was  amused  at  Pan- 
Islamic  agitation  made  in  Germany,  and  de- 
scribed a  proclamation  lately  sent  to  India  with 
a  photogravure  portrait  of  the  Sheikh-ul-Islam, 
clad  in  a  stiff  shirt  and  wearing  a  starched 
collar;  the  idea  of  this  seemed  ludicrous,  as 
both  the  image  and  the  dress  were  anathema 
to  true  believers.  He  did  not  think  that  any 
of  the  proposed  expeditions  could  reach  India. 
I  spoke  to  him  about  Raouf  Bey,^  and  he  told 
me  "  II  fait  des  betises,"  trying  to  raise  the 
tribes  in  Southern  Persia  against  the  English. 
That  very  day  he  had  asked  the  Grand  Vizier 
to  have  him  recalled.  He  realizes  the  weakness 
of  Persia  and  does  not  want  to  give  either 
England  or  Russia  any  pretext  for  further 
interference. 

He  himself  had  been  accused  of  undue 
friendliness  to  Russia,  when  in  reality  he  had 
only  a  saner  judgment  than  the  others.  We 
agree  together  about  the  follies  of  Turkish 
policy.  The  trouble  with  the  Turks,  he  said,  is 
that  they  have  never  had  statesmen.    Kutchuk 

1  A  Turkish  naval  officer  of  prominence  who,  suspected  by 
the  Germans  of  not  being  under  their  control,  was  given  this 
mission  to  remove  him  from  the  capital. 


66  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Said  was  the  ablest  in  recent  times,  though  a 
man  without  convictions. 

May  25. — As  I  was  walking  toward  the 
Embassy  the  Spanish  Minister  ran  after  me  for 
news  about  Italy's  declaration  of  war,  as  the 
Grand  Vizier  told  every  one  that  it  would  not 
affect  Turkey.  He  was  furious  over  a  lunch 
menu  on  the  occasion  of  King  Alfonso's  birth- 
day. When  sent  to  the  press  the  Censor 
changed  the  *'  petits  pois  a  la  frangaise  "  to  "a 
I'occidentale,"  and  a  "  glace  a  la  russe  "  to  "  a 
I'orientale/'and  asked  how  any  diplomatist  dared 
to  invoke  the  names  of  Turkey's  enemies!  N. 
came  in  shortly  afterward  to  request  us  to  send 
a  wire,  as  the  Italian  Embassy  had  been  cut  off 
from  all  news  since  the  20th.  Now  that  Italy 
is  a  belligerent  they  want  to  find  out  about  the 
protection  of  Italian  interests.  This  question  at 
least  was  answered  later  in  the  day  by  a  cable 
from  Bryan,  that  the  Italian  Ambassador  at 
Washington  requested  us  to  assume  them.  Now 
we  shall  add  Italy,  Russia,  and  Montenegro  to 
England  and  France,  Belgium  and  Serbia. 

The  day's  excitement  has  been  provided  by 
an  English  submarine.  Yesterday  this  stopped 
a  tug,  sunk  it,  but  allowed  the  crew  to  go  on 
shore.  These  brought  the  news,  so  the  Turks 
placed  artillery  at  Top  Hane,  Seraglio  Point, 
and  other  positions  commanding  the  port  and, 


DARING  BRITISH  SUBMARINE       67 

published  In  the  morning  papers  a  bulletin  that 
gun  practice  would  take  place,  in  order  to 
explain  their  possible  firing.  The  submarine 
came  up  at  twenty  minutes  to  one  o'clock  about 
300  yards  from  where  the  Scorpion  ^  lay 
moored,  and  was  immediately  fired  at  by  the 
shore  batteries.  It  shot  off  two  torpedoes. 
The  first  missed  a  transport  by  about  fifty 
yards,  the  second  struck  the  Stamhoid  fair, 
passing  under  a  barge  moored  alongside, 
which  blew  up.  The  Stamhoul  had  a  gap  of 
twenty  feet  on  her  water-line,  but  did  not  sink. 
She  was  promptly  towed  toward  Beshiktash  to 
lie  at  the  bottom  in  shallow  water. 

The  submarine  meanw^hile,  under  a  perfect 
hail  of  fire  which  passed  uncomfortably  close 
to  the  Scorpion,  dived  and  got  away,  steering 
up  the  Bosphorus.  At  Galata  there  was  a 
panic,  every  one  closing  their  shops.  The 
troops,  w^ho  were  already  on  two  transports, 
were  promptly  disembarked,  but  later  re- 
embarked,  and  still  later  landed  once  more. 
The  total  damage  was  inconsiderable,  but  the 
moral  effect  very  real. 

I  received  a  letter  from  F.  of  the  E  15 
asking  for  books,  pipes,  and  underwear  for  his 
men,  who  are  interned  at  Afioun  Karahissar. 
The  letter  is  dated  the   loth,   and  has  taken 

*  The  American  guardship. 


68  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

fifteen  days  to  be  delivered.  There  is  little 
news  from  the  interior  save  that  the  Russians 
have  entered  \'an.  The  contingent  is  mostly 
composed  of  Armenian  volunteers  who  fight 
with  desperate  courage,  but  whose  excesses 
have  shocked  even  the  Russian  command. 
They  have  too  many  scores  to  wipe  off  for 
moderation.  Oddly  enough,  I  am  told  that  at 
01t>'  it  was  the  Turks  themselves  who  led 
their  own  troops  into  an  ambuscade.  There 
can  be  little  left  of  their  Caucasian  army. 

I  do  not  know  how  many  troops  remain 
here,  but  Colonel  M.,  who  dined  with  us  last 
night,  said  he  did  not  think  that  there  were 
over  200,000  between  Thrace,  the  Dardanelles, 
Constantinople,  and  Smyrna.  Some  of  the 
men  who  left  Buyukdere  the  other  day  wept 
when  they  heard  they  were  going  to  the  war. 
They  seem  poorly  fed,  for  even  in  that  short 
march  many  fell  out  of  the  ranks.  The 
officers  are  a  wTetched-looking  lot. 

Still  they  seem  to  have  abundant  equipment 
which  was  supposed  to  be  lacking.  In  October 
they  had  only  400,000  mausers,  but  since  then 
gun-barrels  have  come  through  from  Germany 
and  are  set  up  here.  ]More  munitions  have 
arrived  from  Roumania.  Apparently  at 
Bucarest  they  demand  Czernowitz  and  the 
Banat,  and  as  Russia  is  now  un\\dlling  to  \'ield 


SUBMARINES  IN  THE  MARMORA    69 

either,  they  allow  munitions  to  come  through. 
Every  time  the  Grand  Vizier  sees  the 
Roumanians  he  takes  up  this  question,  and 
has  even  made  these  wire  to  Bucarest  on  the 
subject. 

May  26. — S.  came  in  with  an  exciting  tale. 
On  his  way  to  the  Dardanelles  the  steamer 
which  carried  munitions  and  a  6-inch  gun  had 
been  torpedoed  by  an  English  submarine,  the 
E  II.  They  allowed  the  crew  to  leave  and 
then  sank  the  ship.  The  English  officer  told 
him  there  were  eleven  submarines  in  the 
Marmora  and  these  are  holding  up  all  the  ships 
going  to  the  Dardanelles.  They  had  sunk 
three  transports  full  of  troops,  out  of  four  which 
had  been  sent,  and  various  other  vessels,  but 
do  not  touch  those  carrying  wounded.  Rein- 
forcements are  no  longer  being  dispatched 
by  sea,  but  overland  by  Muradli,  which  is  far 
more  difficult  and  takes  eight  days.  It  is 
thought  they  are  being  sent  towards  Enos, 
where  fighting  is  expected.  Some  believe  that 
the  operations  at  the  Dardanelles  are  only  a 
feint  Intended  to  engage  the  greatest  number 
of  troops  possible,  and  that  the  real  landing 
has  taken  place  at  Enos. 

There  are  reports  of  fighting  at  Kashan 
above  Rodosto,  but  I  believe  these  to  be 
myths,   and   the   only  reason   that   troops  are 


70  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

sent  in  that  direction  is  because  of  the  sub- 
marines. 

I  heard  the  first  plausible  explanation  why 
the  English  torpedoes  did  less  injury  than  the 
Germans.  Thus  an  old  merchant  ship  like  the 
Stamboul,  though  struck  fair  at  a  short  distance, 
did  not  sink.  Apparently  the  English  torpedoes, 
like  our  own,  are  intended  for  an  effective  range 
up  to  5000  yards,  and  have  in  consequence  a 
smaller  diameter  and  explosive  charge  than  the 
Germans  which  are  meant  for  3000  yards.  Is 
this  true? 

A  Greek  sailor  who  was  on  board  one  of 
the  eleven  colliers  sunk  by  the  Russians  at 
Soungouldak,  says  they  arrived  with  twenty- two 
transports  and  landed  a  large  force  which  began 
by  destroying  the  coalmines.  Has  a  real  force 
been  sent?  It  has  always  been  thought  that  if 
they  landed  it  would  be  in  this  neighbourhood, 
to  escape  Chataldja  and  cut  off  Constantinople 
from  Anatolia. 

May  2y. — The  position  of  the  Italians  here 
is  becoming  increasingly  difficult.  The  local 
press  publishes  daily  attacks  on  Italy  and  the 
alleged  cowardice  of  Italian  troops,  and  though 
there  are  no  signs  of  popular  resentment  against 
them,  the  feeling  is  distinctly  uncomfortable. 
Yesterday  Weitz,  meeting  N.  at  Mrs.  J.*s,  asked 
how  his  enemy  felt,   but  patted  him  on   the 


LOSS  OF  THE  MAJESTIC  71 

back.  At  the  Club  the  Italians  are  still  on 
bowing  terms  with  the  others. 

News  has  come  of  the  torpedoing  of  the 
Majestic — the  second  battleship  in  three  days. 
The  Turks  are  exultant,  and  have  ordered  all 
the  shops  to  display  flags.  At  Stamboul,  where 
most  of  the  Greek  shopkeepers  do  not  own  any, 
they  were  taken  to  police  stations  and  forced 
to  buy  them.  The  ship  was  sunk  by  a  German 
submarine.  Colonel  M.  told  me,  having  heard, 
two  months  ago,  that  six  of  these  had  been 
sent  in  sections  to  Pola  where  they  were  put 
together.  This  sounds  more  plausible  than 
that  they  should  have  come  round  by  Gib. 
Enver  was  very  pleased — one  torpedo  had 
done  this,  he  said,  and  soon  there  will  be  no 
more  ships.  But  he  did  not  prophesy  how 
soon  the  Allies  would  be  driven  off.  Only  a 
few  weeks  ago,  he  declared  it  was  at  most 
a  question  of  two  days,  later  the  delay  was 
extended  to  a  week.  Now  we  forget  about  it. 
There  are  all  kinds  of  rumours  that  the  Turks 
have  met  with  defeat  and  the  Allies  made 
great  progress. 

Already  the  Turks  have  lost  over  70,000 
men  out  of  perhaps  120,000.  They  had  four- 
teen divisions  there,  but  most  of  these  did  not 
exceed  9000  men.  The  Marmora  is  practically 
closed  by  English  submarines.     Every  one  asks 


72  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

where  their  depot  is  and  how  they  are  re- 
furnished. 

The  Persian  Ambassadress  called  to-day  on 
Helene.  Although  a  Frenchwoman  she  does 
not  allow  men  to  see  her,  fearing  lest  her 
husband  be  criticized.     She  is  devoted  to  him. 

A  few  days  ago  Tewfik  was  spoken  of  as 
Grand  Vizier.  Now  it  is  Hakki — the  latter 
seems  more  likely  with  the  German  influence 
behind  him. 

May  28. — From  Aleppo  word  has  come 
that  they  have  begun  deporting  six  hundred 
men,  women,  and  children  of  the  belligerent 
powers  to  the  interior.  At  Smyrna  the  same 
measure  is  contemplated.  Enver  refused  to 
remit  the  Aleppo  deportations  save  for  such 
women  and  children  as  have  not  yet  been  sent. 
Some  of  these  unfortunates  are  accused  of 
circulating  false  rumours  of  Allied  success,  and 
thus  disquieting  the  population.  And  they 
want  successes  badly.  From  Budrum  they 
announce  as  a  victory  that  they  have  captured 
a  row-boat  with  five  Frenchmen.  "  The 
prisoners  and  their  flags  are  being  sent  to 
Constantinople!  " 

The  submarines  in  the  Marmora  have 
frightened  the  Turks,  and  all  the  remaining 
transports,  save  one,  lie  tranquilly  in  the  Golden 
Horn.     Otherwise  I  have  never  seen  the  port 


SUBMARINE  BASES  73 

so  empty.  One  wonders  where  the  submarines 
have  their  base  and  when  and  how  it  was 
prepared — probably,  if  at  all,  in  some  island  of 
the  Marmora,  though  the  newer  boats  can  stay 
out  a  long  time.  The  German  submarine  base 
is  said  to  be  at  Smyrna,  where  large  quantities 
of  petrol  have  been  sent,  but  doubtless  it  is 
not  the  only  one. 

At  the  Club  they  put  me  out  with  the  tale 
that  the  Agamemnon  had  been  sunk.  Three 
ships  in  three  days  seemed  more  than  one 
could  stand:  fortunately  it  was  not  true,  and 
at  the  worst  she  was  only  towed  to  Imbros. 
But  the  submarine  has  come  to  stay,  and  make 
good  Percy  Scott's  prediction.  The  Majestic 
was  sunk  in  spite  of  five  destroyers  around  her 
and  nets  up — the  latter  cut  by  the  shears 
torpedoes  now  carry. 

I  visited  the  Military  Museum  at  St.  Irene, 
a  Byzantine  church,  covered  with  Turkish 
weapons,  and  typifying  Constantinople-Turkish 
military  occupation,  on  a  Greek  foundation. 
In  the  court,  beside  the  porphyry  sarcophagi 
of  Byzantine  Empresses,  a  penny-in-the-slot 
hurdy-gurdy  was  patronized  by  Turkish  soldiers. 
The  Museum  is  up  to  date.  There  is  an 
unexploded  15-inch  shell  fired  by  the  Queen 
Elizabeth  at  the  Dardanelles,  and  two  English 
machine  guns  captured  in  the  recent  fighting, 


74  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

but  pretty  well  battered.  Also  the  flag  of  the 
E  15.  An  Italian  flag  said  to  have  been  cap- 
tured In  Libya  was,  I  believe,  stolen  from  a 
Consulate.  The  Museum  aims  at  fostering 
martial  enthusiasm  by  a  display  of  weapons 
from  Crusaders'  armour  to  Enver's  uniform! 

Afterward  I  called  on  R.  Bey,  where  I  met 
Abdul  Hak-Hamid,  the  foremost  Turkish  poet, 
who  looks  like  a  cultivated  Frenchman,  copies 
Victor  Hugo,  and  wears  an  eye-glass.  His  wife 
is  Belgian.  But  we  spoke  more  of  China  than 
of  Turkey,  for  political  talk  has  to  be  eschewed. 

All  upper-class  Turks  are  pro-English.  F. 
told  me  of  one  poor  English  wounded  prisoner 
who  was  given  five  pounds,  in  sympathy,  by  an 
unknown  Turk. 

T.  and  B.  of  the  Austrian  Embassy  came 
after  dinner,  the  former  furious  against  the 
Italians,  saying  that  all  the  hatred  toward  the 
English  had  now  been  diverted.  B.,  although 
a  Hungarian,  was  more  restrained;  he  has 
already  lost  eleven  out  of  twelve  near  relatives 
in  the  war.  It  is  odd  how  little  the  Austrians 
and  the  Germans  mix.  At  the  Club  each  sit 
at  separate  tables,  and  not  once  have  I  seen 
them  talking  together.  Even  the  Austrian 
Military  Plenipotentiary,  General  P.,  apparently 
never  sees  his  German  colleague.  The  Germans 
make  their  superiority  felt  too  much,  and  the 


BULGARIA  75 

Austrians  loathe  them.  Oddly  enough  Turkey 
has  been  of  more  use  to  Germany  than  Austria; 
but  that  is  because  England  willed  it,  when  it 
would  have  been  so  easy  to  leave  the  Turks 
alone. 

T.  told  me  that  the  200,000  Russians  con- 
centrated at  Odessa  for  a  landing  here  have 
now  been  dispatched  in  all  haste  to  Galicia. 

May  29. — The  Bulgarian  students,  both  at 
Robert  College  and  the  Girls'  College,  have  all 
been  ordered  back  a  fortnight  before  the  term 
is  over.  Koloucheff  says  it  means  nothing  save 
that  their  parents  were  anxious — the  submarines 
had  alarm^ed  them!  But  it  seems  odd — the 
Italian  Embassy  had  never  any  intimation  of 
war  from  Rome,  and  I  doubt  if  the  Bulgarians 
would  receive  it  here.  After  all,  Bulgaria  can 
at  once  realize  her  ambitions  in  Thrace,  and 
get  back  the  Dobroudja,  if  she  moves  now, 
while  she  finds  the  powers  favourably  disposed 
for  Macedonia.  If  she  waits,  she  risks  being 
left  empty  handed.  Though  none  of  the 
Balkan  States  want  Russia  here,  they  do  not 
prevent  it  by  abstaining:  concerted  action  with 
England  and  France  will  far  more  likely  lead 
to  internationalization. 

Last  night  a  submarine  sunk  a  transport,  the 
Pandemia,  with  troops  and  munitions  aboard, 
though  the  Turks  deny  the  former.     No  lights 


76  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

are  now  allowed  at  night  on  the  Galata  bridge 
— even  cabs  and  motors  are  obliged  to  ex- 
tinguish theirs.  This  morning  I  heard  about 
nine  o'clock  the  sharp  crackle  of  guns.  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  was  directed  against  a  sub- 
marine, though  one  appeared  off  Moda  Point. 

One  cannot  help  wondering  what  will  happen 
here  just  before  the  Allies  get  through.  Per- 
sonally I  do  not  believe  in  massacres,  though 
many  think  these  certain,  nor  in  that  last- 
ditcher  attitude  of  the  Turk  which  will  want 
to  destroy  everything  before  making  his  final 
bow  in  Europe.  I  think  the  threat  is  bluff. 
Enver  may  have  the  stuff  of  the  fanatic, 
but  I  doubt  it  of  the  others.  Still  they  may 
seek  to  defend  Constantinople  against  a  land- 
ing— a  few  guns  and  howitzers  are  left  here, 
and  in  that  case  we  might  be  bombarded,  as 
technically  the  place  would  be  fortified.  Can 
a  neutral  zone  be  established? 

An  American  correspondent  has  just  re- 
turned from  the  Dardanelles.  The  lines  are 
within  thirty  yards  of  each  other,  and  the 
operations  are  pure  siege  work.  He  thought 
that  the  Turks  over-estimated  the  Allied 
strength.  The  latter  rely  more  on  the  gun- 
fire from  the  fleet  than  on  their  own  artillery 
of  which  they  do  not  seem  to  have  much. 
Since    the    German    submarine    successes    the 


KRUPP'S  WORKMEN  ARRIVE       77 

Turks  feel  elated.  There  is  no  likelihood  of 
an  early  solution. 

I  wonder  if  an  Italian  force  is  on  its  way. 

N.  lunched  here,  as  it  is  uncomfortable  for 
him  to  go  to  the  Club,  and  the  feeling  is  bitter 
against  him  personally.  Ever  since  the  war 
broke  out  he  has  been  anti-German.  Yet 
diplomatic  immunity  should  cover  the  Em- 
bassy. The  Germans  have  every  interest  in 
upholding  it,  for  if  Bulgaria  moves  against  them 
they  will  be  cut  off  here  and  likely  prisoners. 

In  the  afternoon  after  lawn-tennis,  with 
our  Anglo-German- Italian  four,  we  went  for  a 
drive.  We  passed  the  power  station  at  Chichli 
where  they  are  said  to  be  manufacturing  muni- 
tions, though  I  could  see  no  signs  of  it.  Skilled 
workmen  from  Krupp  have  lately  arrived  here, 
however,  and  are  helping  the  Turks  in  making 
up  to  12-inch  shells,  it  is  claimed,  though  this 
must  be  an  exaggeration. 

It  was  pleasant  to  get  beyond  the  town  on 
the  Therapia  road,  and  pass  through  the  fields 
of  ripening  strawberries.  The  day  was  ex- 
ceptionally clear  and  one  could  see  the  island 
of  Marmora,  and  the  distant  Olympus.  W^e 
returned  by  Yildiz,  where  there  were  hundreds 
of  convalescent  wounded  and  a  park  of  requi- 
sitioned carts.  Then  down  the  valley  to 
Flammour,    passing    the   marble    terraces   and 


78  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

cypress  groves.  I  fancy  the  tradition  of  terrace 
gardens  has  come  down  from  Byzantine  days. 
These  steep  hills  and  varied  perspectives  of 
land  and  water  are  admirably  suited  for  them. 

May  30. — Had  a  talk  with  Colonel 
Phrantzis  ^  on  Hellenism.  To  him  it  is  not 
a  race,  nor  a  religion,  but  an  idea.  Albanians 
were  as  much  imbued  with  it,  and  he  found  the 
same  feelings  in  Greek  Jews.  He  quoted  a 
Persian  who  said  that  if  Alexander  had  lived 
another  quarter  of  a  century,  Christ  would  not 
have  been  necessary.  I  like  the  mystical 
patriotic  faith  of  the  Greeks,  which  all  alike 
share.  The  latter  here  lament  the  decay  of 
Hellenism.  Those  from  Greece  proper  have 
a  broader  view,  tempered  and  enlarged  with 
other  ideals  than  the  local  Greeks,  whose 
nationalism  is  religion,  and  centres  around  the 
Patriarchate.  The  lower  classes  are  still  fanat- 
ical, and  even  at  Therapia  during  Holy  Week 
burn  a  Jew  in  efhgy.  Mr.  Z.'s  sister  tried  her 
best  to  stop  this  practice,  without  success.  The 
most  she  could  obtain  was  that  the  burning 
should  take  place  in  the  middle  of  the  Bos- 
phorus,  and  from  a  boat. 

The  report  is  that  the  Allied  ships  have 
been  withdrawn  from  the  Dardanelles.  There 
are  supposed  to  be  five  or  six  submarines — 

1  The  Greek  Military  Attache. 


THE  AGAMEMNON  79 

Austrian  or  German?  Since  the  Agamemnon 
has  been  torpedoed  before  the  plains  of  Troy, 
a  Greek  dentist  who  bears  that  surname  was 
arrested  by  an  over-intelligent  police.  Having 
convinced  these  that  its  use  was  no  novelty  on 
his  part  in  honour  of  the  Allies,  he  was  released 
with  a  caution  to  abbreviate  his  name  on  the 
sign-post  to  the  initial  A.  There  is  now  a 
crusade  against  all  signboards  in  enemy 
languages,  and  the  porter  of  this  house  had 
word  from  the  police  that  he  must  remove  the 
Arabic  numerals  from  the  door  and  leave  only 
the  Turkish.  They  still  have  time  to  think  of 
such  things.  The  Director  of  the  Pera  Palace 
was  arrested  to-day.  I  do  not  know  the  reason. 
I  suppose  he  will  be  kept  in  prison  a  few  days 
and  then  released  without  explanation.  The 
usual  process. 

The  Breslau  and  Hamidie  returned  yester- 
day with  a  convoy  of  6500  tons  of  coal  from 
Soungouldak,  so  our  electricity  will  continue 
for  a  time.  The  Russians  had  blown  up  some 
collieries  with  dynamite,  but  there  are  others 
left.  Their  landing  in  force  was  a  myth,  the 
twenty- two  ships  observed  being  the  entire 
fleet  and  not  transports.  From  a  military  point 
of  view  a  Russian  landing  is  out  of  the  question,  I 
hear,  until  they  gain  complete  command  of  the 
sea. 


8o  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

Wangenhcim  must  have  his  hands  full  since 
Italy  has  entered,  and  no  longer  plays  his  daily 
bridge.  Lately  at  the  club  he  grew  fearfully 
excited,  shaking  his  fist  and  hammering  the 
table,  declaring  that  England  wanted  the  war. 
And  his  bridge  associates,  who  are  Greeks,  in 
terror  lest  he  should  grow  more  violent  and  to 
humour  him,  repeated  in  chorus,  "  Yes,  England 
wanted  the  war." 

An  unpleasant  note  has  come  from  the  Porte, 
to  say  that,  after  the  Allied  aeroplanes  had 
bombarded  Maidos  hospital,  killing  thirty  of 
the  wounded,  an  order  of  the  day  was  cap- 
tured directing  aviators  particularly  to  single 
out  hospitals  and  ambi  lances  for  their  work.  It 
goes  on  to  say  that  the  Turks  will  therefore 
be  obliged  to  resort  to  very  severe  reprisals 
toward  British  and  French  prisoners  both 
military  and  civilian.  L.,  the  French  dragoman, 
wants  us  to  ask  if  these  are  to  be  grilled  alive 
or  plunged  in  boiling  oil.  It  may  be  bluff,  but 
the  military  are  in  a  mood  to  resort  to  anything. 
Since  the  submarines  appeared  they  are  puffed 
up  with  confidence.  How  different  from  the 
old  Turks  I  saw  yesterday  in  the  Conqueror's 
Mosque  at  Stamboul.  There  is  a  silent  dignity 
about  old-world  Islamism.  The  present  crowd 
is  closer  to  Sofia  than  to  Konia. 

May    31. — I    have    had    some    particulars 


GERMAN  SUBMARINES  8i 

about  the  submarines.  There  are  four  in  all, 
one  large  one  which  acts  as  a  floating  base,  and 
three  smaller  ones,  not  over  lOO  feet  in  length. 
These  were  shipped  in  sections  to  Pola  and  set 
up.  I  suppose  the  presence  of  the  parent  sub- 
marine accounts  for  German  activity  in  English 
waters,  and  explains  the  length  of  time  they 
can  keep  the  sea.  It  is  odd  that  this  has  not 
been  noticed  by  the  critics,  who  search  for 
more  mysterious  reasons  and  under- water  stores 
of  petrol.  Here  the  submarines  have  given 
new  confidence  to  the  Turks.  For  one  thing 
it  has  reduced  the  Allies'  gun-power,  and  the 
former  now  feel  safer  in  their  trenches. 

R.  and  S.,  who  have  just  returned  from  the 
Dardanelles,  saw  no  signs  of  apprehension. 
They  were  allowed  to  go  close  to  the  first  line 
of  defences,  and  saw  trenches  full  of  men  lying 
idle  in  support.  The  artillery  fire  was  pro- 
ceeding most  of  the  time  and  the  much-expected 
want  of  ammunition  has  not  yet  made  itself 
felt. 

The  Turks  admit  8000  wounded  on  the 
peninsula,  who  cannot  be  moved.  Since  the 
British  submarines  have  been  so  active  in  the 
Marmora,  no  more  wounded  arrive  here,  for 
they  dare  not  send  the  ships.  The  two  corre- 
spondents returned  on  a  small  tug,  whose 
captain  blazed  at  every  dolphin  lest  it  be  a 


82  ITALY  ENTERS  THE  WAR 

periscope.  Even  the  Haldar  Pasha  ferry  has 
its  railings  overhung  with  life-belts,  and  people 
live  in  terror  to  cross  the  Bosphorus. 

The  Turks  are  furious  at  the  English  press 
for  announcing  that  they  had  asked  for  an 
armistice  at  the  Dardanelles  to  bury  the  dead. 
An  official  communique  gives  out  that  "  the 
baseness  of  English  character  is  such  that  it 
cannot  appreciate  the  lofty  humanity  of  the 
Ottoman  mind,  in  granting  this  permission. 
English  people  may  well  hope  that  some  day 
their  country  may  attain  a  level  of  civilization 
equal  to  that  of  Turkey!  " 

Last  night  L.  said  he  believed  Roumania 
would  soon  move.  From  what  he  knew  the 
negotiations  with  Russia  were  proceeding 
favourably.  There  were  still  difficulties  over 
the  Bukovina  and  the  Banat,  which  had  lately 
been  promised  to  Serbia,  but  they  would  prob- 
ably be  smoothed  down  and  a  concentration 
Cabinet  come  into  power  to  declare  war. 

Here  the  place  is  full  of  rumours  of  agree- 
ment between  Roumania  and  Bulgaria,  yet 
Wangenheim,  to  show  confidence,  announces 
his  early  departure  for  Therapia. 


Ill 

JUNE 

BATTLE   AND   HOPES 

June  I. — In  the  streets  one  hears  only  the 
grating  sound  of  windows,  scraped  of  their 
foreign  signs,  for  the  tradesmen  live  in  terror 
of  the  police,  and  obey  every  new  regulation. 
The  only  exception  made  is  in  favour  of 
German  signs. 

There  is  talk  of  an  anti-foreign  demonstra- 
tion against  such  as  still  remain  on  June  ii, 
the  lately  rediscovered  anniversary  of  the 
capture  of  Constantinople,  when  all  Greeks 
have  to  be  careful.  Last  year  an  absurd  charge 
that  Y.  Bey  had  put  the  Turkish  flag  at  half- 
mast  on  this  occasion  cost  him  his  place  of 
"  Mudir  "  at  Prinkipo,  for  there  was  no  means 
of  disproving  this  a  few  days  later  when  the 
accusation  came  home. 

A  Turkish  friend  called,  full  of  indignation 
at  the  expulsion  measures  from  the  Upper 
Bosphorus.     They  were  forcing  him   to  move, 

83 


84  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

for  he  had  Christians  in  the  house  who  were 
like  members  of  the  family,  and  his  wife  could 
not  be  without  them.  He  laid  the  fault  on  the 
Germans,  and  particularly  Admiral  Souchow, 
who,  he  said,  was  insistent.  A  Turkish  official 
told  me  the  same  thing.  Yet  I  find  this  hard 
to  believe,  though  Germans  were  charged  by 
the  Turks  with  being  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Greek  expulsions  which  caused  so  much  misery 
last  year. 

Another  correspondent  has  returned  from 
the  Dardanelles.  But  although  he  passed  a 
month  there,  he  saw  very  little. 

The  bombs  from  aeroplanes  have  done  a  deal 
of  damage,  and  Liman's  headquarters  are  in  a 
well-hidden  forest  glen  near  Yalova.  He  was 
impressed  by  the  growing  ill-feeling  between 
Turks  and  Germans,  which  he  thought  certain 
to  burst  more  violently.  The  Turks  I  meet 
who  have  sons  fighting  at  the  Dardanelles  seem 
to  commiserate  them.  In  spite  of  daily  official 
rhapsodies  there  is  no  enthusiasm  and  little 
notion  of  fighting  for  one's  country,  but  rather  a 
sad  realization  of  the  desperate  adventure.  If 
the  Allies  enter,  few  will  give  them  a  heartier 
welcome  than  the  Turks.  **  A  present  c'est 
I'anarchie,"  one  remarked  to  me  to-day. 

The  police  have  entered  a  French  orphan 
asylum  at  Bebek  this  morning,  and  gave  orders 


ORPHANS  EXPELLED  85 

that  the  place  was  to  be  instantly  evacuated. 
The  orphans  were  not  even  permitted  to  eat 
the  lunch  spread  before  them,  or  to  take  any- 
thing away  with  them.  Between  foundlings 
and  nuns,  150  people  were  suddenly  thrown 
in  the  street.  The  monks  who  brought  me  the 
news  were  naturally  upset.  I  promised  to  see 
Chukriji  as  the  orders  were  supposed  to 
emanate  from  him.  He  received  me  with 
great  courtesy,  but  assured  me  that  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it  and  knew  nothing  about 
it.  He  thought  it  might  be  the  military,  as 
they  were  in  want  of  convalescent  homes.  He 
was  so  affable  that  I  regretted  having  no 
further  business  to  bring  up.  I  therefore 
asked  permission  to  use  the  telephone  which 
was  on  his  desk,  to  inform  M.  who  had  an 
appointment  with  Enver. 

When  I  returned  to  the  Embassy,  M. 
had  seen  Enver,  who  told  him  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  the  whole  thing.  The  orders 
emanated  entirely  from  Chukri.  Bedri,^  to 
whom  we  then  telephoned  to  stop  it,  cursed 
Chukri  as  a  dog  who  had  not  even  the  courage 
to  acknowledge  what  he  did! 

Enver  is  unwilling  to  allow  the  Italian 
Consuls  in  Syria  to  leave  from  Beirut  on  the 

*  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 

*  Chief  of  Police. 


S6  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Tennessee,  as  the  Consulate  desired,  but  sug- 
gested that  they  should  all  gather  at  Smyrna 
or  here.  As  this  is  certain  to  take  time,  he 
probably  suggests  it  in  order  to  await  develop- 
ments. Meanwhile  Garroni  has  received  word 
from  his  Government  to  facilitate  the  Consuls* 
departure  while  he  waits  here,  neither  fish  nor 
fowl.  The  Italian  Embassy  is  nervous  to  leave 
by  their  ordinary  packet  from  Dedeagatch, 
because  of  submarines,  and  ask  that  an  American 
man-of-war  be  sent  for  them.  All  the  Italian 
colony  who  wish  to  do  so  will  embark  with 
Garroni,  but  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  an 
exception  against  reservists. 

An  Italian  captured  on  a  Russian  vessel 
sunk  by  the  Goeben  last  autumn  has  just  been 
released  from  Afioun  Karahissar.  The  captive 
officers  there  live  not  badly,  but  the  men  are 
fed  on  food  not  fit  for  dogs.  They  are 
obliged  to  work  on  the  roads  and  often  mal- 
treated by  their  guards. 

The  negotiations  between  Bulgaria  and 
Roumania  are  said  to  be  progressing  favourably, 
though  the  arrangement  is  very  complicated. 
There  is  talk  of  an  Italian  occupation  of  Herze- 
govina as  a  guarantee  for  eventual  Serbian 
cessions  in  Macedonia.  The  Germans  are 
worried  over  the  situation. 

June  2. — I   heard   from   a   German  source 


THE  BALKANS  PREPARE  87 

that  during  the  Crown  Council  at  Sofia  every 
one  save  Radoslavoff  was  for  the  Entente.  It 
is  not  unnatural.  The  Bulgars  can  regain 
Thrace  and  the  Dobroudja  and  obtain  favour- 
able consideration  for  Macedonia.  If  afterward 
they  fall  on  the  Greeks  the  Entente  will  not 
save  the  latter.  At  Bucarest  they  are  busy 
preparing  hospital  quarters  everywhere,  and 
women  are  enrolling  as  nurses.  The  fact  that 
the  censorship  here  allows  news  of  Roumanian 
military  preparation  to  be  published  seems 
rather  indicative.  The  Russian  defeat  in 
Gallcia  had  one  immediate  result  In  making 
them  more  conciliatory.  Petrograd  no  longer 
insists  on  the  Bukovina,  and  will  probably 
compromise  on  the  Banat.  There  is  a  report 
here  to-night  that  Talaat  has  left  for  Sofia.  At 
any  rate  he  was  extraordinarily  obliging  to-day, 
which  is  always  a  sign  when  things  go  wrong 
here. 

The  Turks  have  asked  for  the  British 
Embassy  to  use  as  a  hospital.  There  is  ample 
room  elsewhere,  though  wounded  have  come 
in  again.  Tram  full  after  tram  full  passed  the 
house  this  morning.  Some  arrived  by  train 
and  some  by  a  small  ship,  which  I  saw  at  the 
Customs  quay  with  a  Red  Cross  painted  on  it. 
So  far  they  have  not  been  able  to  obtain 
recognition  for  their  hospital  ships,  and,  having 


88  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

only  a  few  vessels,  they  use  them  for  transports 
as  well. 

Wounded  on  their  way  here  are  perfectly 
safe  from  submarines,  but  on  the  journey  back 
to  the  Dardanelles  vessels  run  the  risk.  Enver 
was  asked  to  show  the  captured  order  of  the 
day  mentioned  in  the  Porte's  note,  enjoining 
Allied  aviators  to  throw  bombs  on  ambulances 
and  hospitals,  but  replied  it  was  an  intercepted 
wireless  communication,  so  the  matter  can 
drop! 

There  are  worse  stories  about,  brought 
back  by  wounded  soldiers,  especially  Greeks. 
In  one  case  a  party  of  eight  English,  who  had 
wandered  and  lost  their  way,  surrendered. 
They  gave  up  their  arms  and  were  told  they 
were  at  liberty.  As  soon  as  they  turned  to 
go,  all  were  promptly  shot  down.  There  must 
be  substance  in  these  reports,  for  no  more 
prisoners  are  taken. 

The  military  have  it  all  their  own  way,  and 
a  new  law  authorizes  the  Commandants  to 
proceed  to  wholesale  expulsions  whenever  they 
judge  it  necessary.  It  is  no  new  thing,  but 
will  strengthen  their  hand,  especially  in  Ar- 
menia. The  feeling  against  the  Armenians  is 
very  strong  because  so  many  are  fighting  on 
the  Russian  side.  But  here,  wherever  their 
sympathies  lie,  their  actions  have  been  innocent. 


AN  OLD  TURK  89 

A  wire  from  the  Triple  Entente  asks  to  tell 
this  Government  that  they  will  be  held  person- 
ally responsible  for  their  inhuman  treatment  of 
Armenians.  There  have  been  so  many  such 
threats  that  they  must  lose  effect  without 
greater  military  success. 

In  the  afternoon  Helene  accompanied  me 
to  call  on  F.  Bey — the  last  Turk  of  the  old 
courtly  school  and  a  great  gentleman.  His 
sons,  although  grown  up,  kiss  his  hand  in  the 
morning  and  dare  not  smoke  before  him  or  go 
out  of  an  evening  without  his  consent.  He 
has  some  good  French  furniture  in  the  helter- 
skelter  collection  he  has  formed  with  love. 
One  Louis  XVI  commode  with  the  interlaced 
L  on  the  bronzes  is  of  rare  beauty.  I  met 
there  Z.  Bey,  who  is  most  pessimistic  at  the 
outlook,  and  sees  ruin  ahead.  The  crowd's 
fanaticism  at  Stamboul  is  daily  excited,  he  told 
us,  and  he  for  one  anticipates  massacres.  Many 
do,  but  personally  I  believe  that  Bedri  has  now 
removed  the  most  dangerous  characters,  and 
the  Turkish  hooligan  does  not  exist. 

Returning  to  the  Embassy,  I  found  a  French 
Jesuit,  Father  d'A.,  freshly  released  from  prison. 
He  had  been  tried  by  court-martial.  His 
interrogatory  had  been  lengthy,  and  they  had 
tried  to  intimidate  him,  but  could  prove 
nothing.     He  had,  however,  been  well  treated 


90  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

after   the   first   arrest,    and   had    no  complaint 
to  make. 

The  nuns  are  worse  off,  but  they  have 
been  indiscreet  in  their  wish  to  correspond  with 
their  families  in  France. 

The  Director  of  the  Pera  Palace  has 
also  been  released,  but  ordered  to  leave 
Constantinople  at  once. 

June  3. — S.,  who  is  back  from  the  Dar- 
danelles, thinks  that  without  reinforcements  the 
Allies  have  an  impossible  task.  The  Ari 
Bournu  ^  landing  was  a  grave  error,  and  with 
the  steep  hills  commanding  their  position  no 
progress  can  be  made.  He  was  surprised  to 
see  the  transports  lying  undisturbed,  though 
within  gun  range,  which  seems  to  indicate 
shortage  of  munitions.  The  frequent  bayonet 
fights  were  also  for  the  same  reason.  At  the 
Seddulbahr  end  the  fighting  still  goes  on  for 
the  heights  above  Krithia.  The  trenches  are 
in  some  places  within  ten  yards  of  each  other. 

The  Turks  are  by  no  means  certain  that 
it  was  the  Majestic  which  went  down,  but  one 
of  that  type,  and  still  await  the  English  bul- 
letin. They  hope  it  was  that  ship  on  account 
of  the  accuracy  of  her  shooting.  After  she 
sank,  all  the  other  battleships  withdrew  save 
two,  whose  rate  of  fire  was  increased. 

*  Anzac. 


GERMAN  PREDICTIONS  91 

Three  new  English  divisions  arc  said  to 
have  arrived  at  Lemnos.  But  as  the  Turks 
have  made  good  their  losses,  will  these  be 
sufficient? 

I  had  to  see  Garroni  about  the  Italian 
Consuls  in  Syria.  He  gave  me  a  long  talk 
why  Italy  was  not  a  "  traditore,"  and  sketch- 
ing the  history  of  the  Triple  Alliance,  brought 
out  all  the  instances  in  which  Austria  and 
Germany  had  betrayed  Italy.  Roumania  and 
Bulgaria  were  not  yet  ready  for  war,  he 
thought,  in  spite  of  contrary  rumours.  The 
Germans  are  saying  here  that  even  if  they  go 
in,  and  though  Constantinople  is  lost,  the  fate 
of  Turkey  will  be  decided  in  Central  Europe, 
where  Germany  will  be  victorious.  Some  of 
the  Turks  are  very  pessimistic  about  Bulgaria's 
attitude,  but  Koloucheff  says  there  is  no  change 
in  policy.  As  usual  one  hears  contradictory 
statements  equally  precise. 

At  the  Club,  Wangenheim  put  in  an  appear- 
ance to  announce  the  fall  of  Przemysl  and 
the  torpedoing  of  an  unknown  battleship,  with 
details  unknown.  Every  time  there  is  some 
success  he  himself  announces  it. 

Later  I  met  Von  Spec,  who  told  me  that 
German  submarines  had  just  arrived  from 
Cuxhaven.  I  expressed  some  doubt,  but  he 
positively  assured  me  of  this,  and  said   there 


92  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

were  now  quite  a  number  he^e.  Some  are 
operating  in  the  Black  Sea. 

Every  German  injects  politics  into  the 
smallest  thing.  Helene  had  written  Humann, 
who  has  charge  of  naval  requisitions,  and  is 
almost  the  most  influential  German  here,  to 
ask  him  to  intercede  for  three  tons  of  coke 
belonging  to  a  Greek  Charitable  Society  which 
provided  laundry  work  for  poor  women  whose 
husbands  were  at  the  war.  He  wrote  her  at 
great  length,  saying  that  their  husbands,  being 
Christians,  were  not  in  the  firing  line,  and  that 
the  Turkish  Government  was  not  friendly 
disposed  towards  the  Greeks  because  of  their 
facilitating  Russian  espionage  and  the  enemy 
submarines  in  the  Marmora. 

Helene  wrote  to  thank  him,  remarking  that 
her  intention  was  purely  humanitarian  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  politics,  and  finished  her 
letter  with  the  hope  soon  to  have  occasion  to 
be  of  service  to  him.  He  could  not  have 
understood  the  veiled  wish  in  this  for  the  Allies' 
entry,  as  he  obtained  the  desired  permission. 
He  is  Enver's  bosom  friend,  and  is  thought  to 
have  engineered  the  coup  of  the  Goeben's  bom- 
bardment of  Sebastopol,  which  brought  Turkey 
into  the  war.  Humann,  who  was  born  in 
Smyrna,  speaks  German  with  a  Levantine 
accent,  and  knows  every  language  of  the  East, 


TURKISH  FEARS  93 

has  far  more  souplesse  than  Germans,  as  a  rule. 
He  understands  the  Turks  well,  and  on  one 
occasion,  when  Wangenheim  resented  a  demand 
they  had  made  for  the  immediate  payment  of 
some  export  tax,  he  devised  a  cunning  plan  to 
pay  one-quarter  6f  this  in  cash,  the  rest  to  go 
over  till  the  end  of  the  war.  The  quarter, 
he  knew,  would  be  enough  to  satisfy  those  in 
power,  while  the  balance  credited  to  the  State 
w^ould  probably  be  forgotten. 

The  Turks  are  greatly  worried  over  the 
submarines  in  the  Marmora.  They  have 
stopped  the  service  to  Prinkipo,  and  have  sent 
us  an  urgent  note,  that  if  a  "  Shirket  "  ^  should 
be  attacked  public  opinion  here,  which  was 
never  known  to  exist,  could  not  be  restrained 
against  belligerent  subjects,  and  the  Govern- 
ment would  also  be  forced  to  adopt  severe 
measures.  M.  believes  it  a  threat  to  massacre. 
I  think  it  more  a  bluff  to  intimidate.  At  any 
rate  we  are  sending  it  to  London  and  Paris, 
with  a  further  request  to  respect  certain  desig- 
nated vessels  which  are  to  be  used  for  the 
transport  of  wounded. 

A  similar  note  came  from  Liman  von 
Sanders  at  the  Dardanelles,  who  had  no  busi- 
ness writing  directly  to  an  Embassy. 

June  4. — Met  R.,  who  fears  the  effect  of 

1  The  Bosphorus  ferry  service  boats. 


94  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

German  successes  In  Gallcia  on  Bucarest. 
A  few  weeks  before  his  cousin,  who  is  a  lady- 
in-waiting,  told  him  that  the  King  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  war,  though  regarding  it  as  a 
disagreeable  necessity. 

But  the  Roumanians  are  in  no  position  to 
withstand  singly  an  Austro-German  shock. 
Unless  the  Russians  rally  they  dare  not  move. 
I  suppose  the  passage  of  munitions  here  will 
be  the  next  sign  as  to  which  way  the  wind 
blows.  Entente  reverses  are  always  followed 
by  that. 

Went  to  see  Garroni  about  the  Italian 
Consuls.  Wires  come  repeatedly  on  this  sub- 
ject, but  not  a  word  about  their  own  departure. 
At  Rome  they  try  to  be  cleverer  than  the 
Turks  in  getting  out  the  Consuls  before  the 
Embassy.  Enver  countered  this  by  saying  that 
no  one  can  leave  except  from  Vourla  or  here, 
which  means  endless  delay.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  Italian  reservists  here,  but  I  don't 
think  these  will  get  away. 

The  fall  of  Przemysl  has  elated  the 
Austrians,  though  it  is  a  little  galling  for 
German  troops  to  have  captured  the  place.  T. 
tells  me  the  Austrians  have  some  new  heavy 
howitzers.  They  have  greatly  increased  their 
artillery,  and  instead  of  four  30.5  mortars, 
which    they    had    last    August,    now    possess 


AN  ARMISTICE  95 

thirty-four.  There  are  no  illusions  here  as  to 
the  war's  duration.  A  year  more  is  the  mini- 
mum date;  only  London  remains  incurably 
optimistic. 

I  talked  over  the  effects  of  war  on  the 
United  States  with  M.,  who  agreed  with  me 
that  it  would  leave  great  furrows  in  the  public 
mind,  and  rifts  of  hatred  between  the  German 
element  and  the  others.  No  German  could  for 
years  aspire  to  high  office,  nor  did  he  think 
could  any  professed  anti-German  be  elected, 
as  the  German  element  would  always  provide 
a  strong  minority. 

June  5. — I  heard  this  morning  details  of 
the  armistice  to  bury  the  dead  at  Ari  Bournu. 
After  five  days  of  fighting  the  ground  between 
the  lines  was  covered  with  bodies.  On  the 
Allied  side  a  Red  Cross  flag  was  put  up,  which 
was  followed  by  a  Red  Crescent  from  the 
Turks.  Then  an  English  officer  advanced, 
only  to  be  fired  on  by  a  Turkish  battery.  He 
retired,  and  a  Turkish  officer  came  out,  when 
in  turn  an  English  sniper  fired.  Neither  side 
could  blame  the  other.  During  the  nine  hours' 
armistice  the  English  showed  themselves  freely, 
while  the  Turks  were  kept  under  cover,  not 
to  give  away  their  numbers  or  the  position 
of  their  trenches.  Some  of  the  wounded  whom 
the  Turks  picked  up  were  still  alive,  in  spite 


96  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

of  their  five  days'  exposure  without  food,  and 
with  wounds  undressed. 

From  a  Turkish  source  also  I  heard  that 
when  the  Triumph  sank,  many  of  the  crew 
who  had  jumped  overboard  were  caught  in  the 
torpedo-nets  and  carried  down  as  she  turned 
turtle.  It  was  a  horrible  sight.  The  Turkish 
Commandant,  Essad  Pasha,  of  Janina  fame, 
forbade  his  men  to  cheer  at  their  enemies' 
destruction.  I  was  shown  a  number  of  photo- 
graphs lately  taken  at  the  Dardanelles  of  the 
main  base  at  Ak  Bashi,  where  the  English 
aviators  daily  drop  bombs — one  killed  sixteen 
soldiers  and  wounded  forty.  The  hospital 
is  so  close  to  this  base  that  the  Turks  have 
no  right  to  complain  if  bombs  fall  near. 
They  are  trying  to  secure  respect  for  their 
hospital  ships,  and  Liman  von  Sanders  pro- 
poses that  these  be  placed  under  our  super- 
vision, but  the  difhculty  will  lie  in  making 
them  stay  good.  They  are  easily  honest 
once  or  twice,  but  less  likely  to  be  so  in  the 
long  run. 

A  report  comes  from  a  man  who  has  just 
arrived  from  Bulgaria  that  the  Sobranye  had 
been  summoned  in  extraordinary  session  at 
Sofia  to  deliberate  on  the  proposals  made  them 
by  the  Entente.  How  much  better  it  would 
have  been  if  Italy,   Roumania,   and   Bulgaria 


PLANS  AGAINST  SUEZ  97 

had  acted  in  concert  instead  of  piecemeal.  I 
don't  know  where  the  fault  lies,  but  half  the 
efficacy  of  their  action  may  be  lost.  Yet  the 
Turks  seemed  reassured  these  last  two  days. 
Talaat's  journey  ostensibly  to  Gallipoli  has 
been  to  the  Bulgarian  frontier.  This  present 
Government  cannot  yield  over  Adrianople, 
whatever  else  it  does. 

T.  told  me  that  most  of  the  Austrians  had 
now  left  Galicia  for  the  Italian  front.  It  is 
odd  that  there  has  been  no  such  explosion  of 
hatred  against  Italy  in  the  German  press  as 
one  might  have  anticipated.  It  looks  as  if 
they  might  be  reserving  their  late  allies  for 
future  use,  and  purposely  not  sending  troops 
against  them. 

Talked  with  S.,  who  is  just  back  from 
Maan,  in  Arabia,  where  he  had  gone  to  meet 
the  crew  from  the  Emden.  The  Germans  he 
had  seen  in  Syria  were  full  of  confidence  that 
the  campaign  against  Suez  would  be  resumed 
in  October,  but  this  is  doubtless  bluff.  They 
were  busy  laying  a  railway  down  the  Hebron 
valley,  utilizing  French  material  for  such  con- 
struction, and  were  already,  he  declared,  within 
two  days'  camel-march  from  El  Arish.  Their 
main  difficulty  was  water.  They  had  tried 
artesian  wells  in  many  places  without  success. 
The    only    springs    were    those    known    since 


98  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

antiquity,  and  from  these  they  were  laying  five- 
inch  pipes  with  one-inch  extensions  wherever 
these  were  likely  to  be  needed.  They  had  also 
tried  to  mine  the  Suez  Canal  and  succeeded 
in  damaging  one  transport,  but  the  difficulties 
were  so  great  that  this  idea  was  abandoned. 

Most  of  the  Syrian  troops  are  now  be- 
tween Tarsus  and  Alexandretta,  to  guard 
against  a  landing  to  cut  off  Aleppo.  S.  tried 
unsuccessfully  to  get  an  interview  with  the 
captain  of  the  new  German  submarine  which 
has  come  from  the  Kiel  Canal.  It  is  also 
a  store  ship  fitted  with  a  supply  of  petrol, 
torpedoes,  and  an  ingenious  device  for  mine- 
laying  by  which,  when  the  mine  is  dropped, 
water  enters  automatically  to  take  its  place 
without  disturbing  the  balance.  In  spite  of 
his  pro-Germanism  S.  disbelieved  the  tale  of 
ships  coming  down  the  Danube,  and  remarked 
that  whatever  route  the  Germans  gave  out  as 
being  taken  by  their  submarines  was  pretty 
certain  not  to  be  the  one  followed.  He 
announced  their  intention  of  sending  here 
twenty  submarines  "  to  clear  the  Mediter- 
ranean." Meanwhile  sceptics  believe  that  one 
of  those  in  port  came  in  Abdul  Hamid's  time 
and  remained  out  of  use  until  lately  the 
Germans  put  it  together. 
"    Colonel  P.  told  me  that  four  more  car-loads 


THE  GOEBEN  99 

of  munitions  arrived  this  morning  at  the  Sir- 
kedji.i  He  thinks  that  the  Turkish  moral  at 
the  Dardanelles  is  beginning  to  waver,  and  the 
forts  are  almost  destroyed,  but  I  find  this  hard 
to  believe. 

After  bridge  at  R.'s  we  drove  out  to  The- 
rapia,  where  we  came  in  for  a  welcome  from 
the  servants,  who  regarded  us  as  a  protection 
against  the  soldiers  quartered  there. 

June  6. — Therapia  is  full  of  soldiers.  They 
are  at  the  Summer  Palace,  and  in  every  house 
except  the  Z.'s,  which  we  have  taken.  Just 
beyond  the  Italian  Embassy  is  a  small  sentry- 
box  where  a  military  policeman  bars  the  road 
for  all  who  are  not  Moslems.  The  soldiers 
are  rather  a  helter-skelter,  shabby  collection,  of 
varying  ages.  I  noticed  four  different  types 
of  rifles  they  were  using — Mausers,  reformed 
Martinis,  Martinis,  and  very  ancient  percussion- 
cap  Winchesters,  which  I  suspect  did  service 
in  our  Civil  War.  Their  equipment  too  is 
somewhat  ragged,  and  in  no  way  up  to  that 
of  the  troops  I  had  seen  hitherto. 

The  sailors  from  the  Goeben  also  marched 
by,  typical  German  faces  under  the  Turkish  fez. 
We  drove  back  to  town  in  the  late  afternoon. 
At  Yenikeui  all  the  houses  on  the  quay,  and 
our   old    Embassy,    were   occupied    by   troops. 

*  Railway  station  at  Constantinople. 


100  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

At  Stenia  I  saw  the  Goehen  snugly  anchored, 
protected  from  submarines  by  a  string  of 
barges.  Close  by  her  were  a  flotilla  of  de- 
stroyers and  torpedo-boats — ten  in  all.  The 
Stenia  cove  is  an  ideal  place  for  them  to  lie, 
completely  hidden  on  three  sides.  All  along 
the  road  we  saw  practice  trenches,  many  of 
which  had  been  filled  in  again.  The  whole 
countryside  lends  itself  admirably  to  defence. 
We  also  passed  on  the  way  the  transport  train 
of  the  6th  Army  Corps,  with  its  hundreds  of 
carts,  open  and  closed,  and  thousands  of  pack 
horses.  Pera  was  the  same,  yet  one  has  the 
feeling  that  something  must  have  happened. 
At  the  Embassy  I  saw  a  much-garbled  wire 
for  the  Italians — probably  on  purpose,  for  the 
cipher  clerk  had  neglected  to  put  two  Italian 
proper  names  in  cipher,  and  at  the  telegraph 
office  here  they  doubtless  realized  for  whom  it 
was,  and  purposely  messed  it. 

Colonel  Marcoff,^  whom  I  met  at  the  Italian 
Embassy,  asked  me  for  confirmation  of  the 
report  that  Erzeroum  had  fallen.  A  Russian 
column  is  now  marching  on  Bitlis  in  addition 
to  the  one  which  had  occupied  Van. 

June  7. — A.  Bey  lunched  here  with  his 
son  fresh  from  the  Galata  Serai.^     The  latter 

1  The  Bulgarian  Military  Attache. 

2  A  Turkish  "  lycee." 


EASTERN  POETRY  loi 

was  proud  of  his  nose  broken  at  football  and 
of  his  athletic  tastes — there  are  six  football 
teams  now  at  the  Galata  Serai.  He  is  about 
to  begin  his  military  service,  but  without  keen- 
ness or  wish  to  fight.  A.  deplores  the  atheism 
of  the  young  generation.  He  himself  often 
visits  his  parents'  tombs,  but  feels  certain  that 
none  of  his  sons  will  go  to  his  grave.  He  is 
terribly  pessimistic  over  the  situation.  When 
I  asked  him  if  the  fall  of  Erzeroum  was  true, 
he  replied  that  if  not  to-day  it  would  be  to- 
morrow. Turkey  was  ruined.  It  was  pleasanter 
to  hear  him  discourse  on  the  poetry  of  the 
East,  and  of  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid  as  a  lover, 
begging  an  unwilling  favourite  on  his  knees  to 
open  her  door,  and  she  refusing  out  of  jealousy. 
On  another  occasion  when  he  discovered  that 
one  of  his  wives  loved  another  man,  he  divorced 
her  to  let  her  marry  him,  and  granted  her  a 
rich  dowry,  while  her  husband  was  advanced  in 
the  Sultan's  service.  We  spoke  of  the  whirl- 
ing dervishes,  whose  dancing  was  symbolic  of 
divine  harmony,  and  intended  to  conduce 
toward  inner  perfection.  He  is  a  lay  member 
of  their  sect,  and  though  he  does  not  dance,  he 
imitated  with  his  arms  the  rhythm  of  their 
movements. 

Colonel  M.  dined  here,  and  we  talked  over 
the  recent  fighting  at  the   Dardanelles.     Five 


102  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

thousand  freshly  wounded  men  arrived  to-day, 
and  many  more  are  expected.  It  will  be 
interesting  after  the  war  to  know  how  close 
our  surmises  of  the  campaign  have  proved 
correct.  We  knew  some  time  ago  that  the 
Allies  were  contesting  the  heights  above 
Krithia.  Have  their  recent  reinforcements 
permitted  them  to  advance  beyond  this?  The 
air  is  thick  with  rumours  of  great  Turkish 
victories;  but  the  bulletin  is  vague  enough 
to  make  one  suppose  the  contrary.  The  only 
claim  made  is  that  the  Allies  were  driven  back 
to  their  original  positions,  and  lost  eighteen 
machine  guns.  The  daily  communique  always 
says  that  nothing  of  interest  takes  place  in  the 
other  theatres  of  war.  Yet  Van  has  been 
occupied,  Bitlis  is  threatened,  the  Russians, 
if  they  are  not  at,  are  near  Erzeroum.  An 
entire  province  is  lost,  but  officially  nothing 
happens.  Enver,  against  Liman  von  Sander's 
advice,  threw  away  an  entire  army  in  the  Cau- 
casus, and  officially  nothing  happens.  The  Dar- 
danelles communiques  have  repeatedly  driven 
the  Allies  into  the  sea.  On  one  occasion  the 
last  groups  had  surrendered,  and  it  was  published 
that  not  a  single  enemy  remained  on  the  sacred 
Ottoman  soil.  Yet  they  are  still  there,  and  the 
Turks  we  know  up  to  the  recent  fighting  have 
lost  at  least  70,000  men,  and  been  obliged  to 


A  POLICY  OF  RUIN  103 

abandon  their  direct  line  of  communication  by 
sea. 

X.  Bey  came  in  after  dinner.  He  had 
lately  been  to  see  Y.  Pasha,  the  one  man 
universally  respected  by  every  one.  Discussing 
this  crisis,  he  asked  him  why,  in  company  with 
men  like  Ghazi  Moukhtar,  he  had  not  gone  to 
the  Sultan  to  protest  against  a  policy  which 
was  leading  Turkey  to  ruin.  Y.  replied  that 
he  had  thought  of  such  a  course,  but  the 
Sovereign  was  too  weak,  and  they  had  no 
elements  with  w^hich  to  work.  The  army  was 
entirely  in  German  hands.  On  whom  could 
reliance  be  placed?  The  country  was  going 
to  destruction,  but  nothing  could  be  done.  The 
present  crowd  courted  war  both  because  it  suited 
their  temperament  of  adventurers,  and  so  long 
as  it  lasted  guaranteed  their  retention  of  power. 
Y.  had  refused  to  be  associated  with  them. 
While  he  was  a  high  official  he  was  asked  to 
take  the  Grand  Vizierate.  On  two  conditions 
he  replied — free  elections  and  free  choice  of  a 
Cabinet.     This  was  refused. 

June  8. — The  King  of  Greece  is  lying 
critically  ill.  The  Greeks  here  were  all  elated 
over  the  miracle  of  his  apparent  recovery. 
While  he  lay  ill,  the  Holy  Virgin  from  Tinos 
was  brought  to  his  bedside.  He  stretched  out 
his  hand  to  touch  the  eikon,  when  his  abscess 


104  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

burst,  and  he  was  saved.  To-day  brought 
news  first  of  his  convalescence,  and  later  of  his 
perilous  condition.  And  Sunday  the  elections 
take  place  in  Greece.  Will  it  mean  Greek  aid 
at  the  Dardanelles?  The  recent  fighting  there 
has  been  furious.  From  a  Turkish  source  I 
hear  that  the  Allies  drove  them  back  ten  miles, 
and  then  lost  all  the  ground  they  had  gained. 
It  sounds  too  automatic,  but  it  will  be  long 
before  we  learn  the  truth.  Two  more  steamers 
carrying  wounded  have  arrived.  They  have 
the  red  cross  painted  on  their  sides,  for  fear 
of  submarines,  which  is  somewhat  galling  to 
present-day  Turks  who  revive  crescent  fanati- 
cism. A  good  many  of  the  wounds  were  caused 
by  bombs  thrown  from  aeroplanes.  The  latter 
especially  are  feared,  for  they  are  without  reply. 
I  called  in  the  afternoon  on  Z.  Pasha.  He 
looked  almost  unchanged  from  when  I  first  knew 
him  nine  years  ago — the  same  courteous,  impas- 
sive, and  wooden  Turkish  gentleman  of  the  old 
school.  We  spoke  mostly  of  personalities  and 
generalities,  for  I  did  not  like  to  tread  on  con- 
troversial ground.  But  he  expressed  a  curious 
wish  that  the  war  would  end,  no  matter  how. 
Like  all  Turks  of  his  training,  he  is  little  in 
sympathy  with  the  present  set.  When  I  re- 
marked that  many  who  once  spoke  English 
seem  now  to  have  forgotten  it,  he  said  it  would 


HINDENBURG  105 

be  the  same  for  French  if  they  could,  but  after 
the  war  knowledge  would  return.  Yet  there  is 
far  less  hatred  for  the  French  here  owing  to 
German  influence.  Goppert,  the  German  coun- 
cillor, told  me  that  when  he  was  at  the  war 
the  soldiers  had  only  sympathy  for  the  French, 
hatred  for  the  English,  contempt  for  the 
Russians.  When  I  remarked  that  this  hatred 
was  mostly  behind  the  lines,  he  said  it  was  the 
same  at  the  front.  It  was  due,  he  thought,  to 
the  nonchalant  demeanour  of  English  officers 
when  brought  in  as  prisoners,  and  to  the  use 
of  dum-dums.  I  denied  this,  but  he  said  he 
had  seen  hundreds  himself  while  he  was  fight- 
ing. He  said  the  '*  cut  off  "  in  the  English 
rifle,  which  allowed  it  to  be  converted  at  will 
from  a  single  shot  to  a  repeater,  was  used  to 
nick  the  cartridges,  and  most  German  soldiers 
thought  it  intended  only  for  that  purpose.  He 
admired  immensely  French  patriotism,  and 
particularly  Joffre.  Hindenburg  was  to  him 
the  one  great  man  on  the  German  side — a  kind 
of  educated  Bluecher.  Yet  I  was  surprised  to 
hear  from  him  that  he  deserved  little  credit  for 
his  first  victory  at  Tannenburg,  where  he  had 
only  taken  over  the  command  three  days  before, 
and  the  plans  for  which  were  due  entirely  to  his 
predecessor,  Prittwitz.  Goppert,  who  is  a  typical 
Prussian,   speaks  of  war  as  a  kind  of  sport. 


io6  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Those  who  are  neurasthenic,  lose  their  neuras- 
thenia. Every  one  was  cured  of  his  ailments. 
I  remarked  that  it  should  be  continued  on 
hygienic  grounds. 

June  9. — A  rumour  has  circulated  here  of 
peace  negotiations  conducted  at  the  Darda- 
nelles, first  by  Marshal  Fuad,  and  continued 
by  Talaat,  but  these  were  broken  off,  as  the 
English  demanded  not  only  the  free  passage 
of  the  Straits,  but  the  unconditional  surrender 
of  Constantinople.  I  do  not  believe  a  word  of 
it,  for  the  Germans  would  never  consent.  The 
whole  story  hangs  on  Talaat's  visit,  and  the 
resulting  attack  begun  at  midday  instead  of 
dawn.  It  was  simultaneous  at  Seddulbahr  and 
Ari  Bournu.  At  the  first  place,  Koloucheff 
related  to  me  the  same  tale  of  the  Allies  advanc- 
ing ten  miles,  and  then  being  driven  back  to 
their  original  positions.  At  Ari  Bournu,  how- 
ever, they  had  made  great  progress,  and  were 
at  Eski  Keui.  But  the  Turks  were  trying  to 
drive  them  back,  as  they  had  done  once  before. 
The  losses  have  been  enormous  on  both  sides. 
Little  by  little  the  Turks  are  concentrating  all 
their  forces  here.  More  troops  from  Syria  have 
been  recalled,  and  others  from  Bagdad  are  on 
the  way.  The  Allies  too  have  reinforcements 
coming.  From  a  German  source  I  heard  that 
the  French  fleet  was  lately  seen  south  of  Crete 


ENVER  AND  THE  PRISONERS     107 

convoying  numerous  transports — but  they  were 
still  in  the  dark  as  to  whether  these  were  meant 
for  the  Dardanelles  or  Syria,  though  I  believe 
the  former.  Koloucheff,  who  is  most  in 
touch  with  Enver,  says  that  the  latter  has 
now  given  orders  to  take  no  prisoners.  Cer- 
tainly there  are  no  reports  of  any,  but  it  may 
also  be  that  they  spread  the  tales  of  "no 
quarter  "  to  excuse  their  lack  of  success, 
preferring  to  be  taken  for  savages  than  for 
incompetents. 

Enver  could  not  understand  why  we  should 
want  to  see  the  prisoners  at  Afioun  Karahissar. 
But  when  he  heard  that  this  was  done  in  every 
other  country,  he  said  he  would  consider  the 
matter.  He  was  serene  as  always.  Even 
when  he  returned  from  the  Caucasus,  where 
an  entire  army  had  been  lost  by  his  fault,  he 
seemed  perfectly  happy,  and  went  the  same 
evening  to  a  concert.  He  is  no  longer  worried 
over  Bulgaria.  It  looks  as  if  their  mutual 
agreement  still  held  good.  The  Greeks,  he 
said,  wish  to  enter,  but  no  one  wants  them. 
The  only  pre-occupation  he  feels  is  over  Rou- 
mania.  X.  told  me,  "  Nous  poursuivons  une 
politique  de  voyou,  voila  ce  que  c'est  que 
d'avoir  des  dynasties  etrangeres."  He  lays 
the  blame  on  Bratiano,  who  cannot  make  up 
his  mind.     The  negotiations  with  Russia  were 


io8  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

ill-conceived  and  badly  begun.  The  result  has 
led  to  grave  discontent. 

S.  Bey  called,  indignant  over  his  son's 
treatment  in  the  cadet  school,  and  expressing 
his  readiness  to  do  anything  to  get  him  out  of 
it.  The  boy  is  quartered  in  filthy  surround- 
ings, without  running  water  or  decent  food,  and 
ordered  about  by  hectoring  sergeants.  He 
spoke  to  me  with  disgust  about  men  of  standing 
and  education  and  tolerance,  who  now  proclaim 
their  fanaticism  and  hatred  of  the  Giaour.  He 
could  not  get  over  this.  He  meant  the  Grand 
Vizier. 

June  10. — Another  mission  left  for  Afghanis- 
tan, consisting  of  a  turbaned  deputy  from  Aldin 
named  Obeidullah,  who  has  had  a  harum-scarum 
career,  which  included  a  pedlar's  pack  in 
America,  and  a  general  called  Suleyman.  Each 
was  given  two  thousand  pounds  and  packed  off. 
Aleppo  is  to  become  the  centre  of  Pan- Islamic 
agitation,  and  Baron  Oppenheim  is  shortly 
leaving  for  there.  He  will  probably  himself 
not  venture  beyond,  but  remains  there  to  send 
others.  The  Porte  has  apologized  for  inciting 
Moslems  to  attack  the  Dutch  at  Java,  and 
called  it  an  oversight.  The  proclamation  in 
which  this  appeared  has  fallen  flat. 

There  are  growing  signs  of  anarchy  in  the 
administration.     At  Adrianople  the  Governor, 


BULGARIA'S  ATTITUDE  109 

Hadji  Adil,  attempted  to  assess  each  com- 
munity in  purely  arbitrary  fashion.  The  Bulgars 
and  the  Jews  appealed  to  Koloucheff,  the  Bul- 
garian Minister,  who  succeeded  in  staving  off 
the  tax.  Here  too  we  have  signs  of  disorganiza- 
tion. Within  three  days  came  tw^o  contradictory 
notes  from  the  Porte,  the  one  asking  us  to 
obtain  by  telegraph  the  recognition  of  the  Gul 
Nihal  as  a  hospital  ship,  the  other  confirming 
a  previous  note  which  stated  it  was  no  longer 
so  used.  The  Turks  are  more  afraid  of  Bulgaria 
than  of  England  or  France.  The  latter  have 
done  their  worst,  without  so  far  hurting  them, 
while  the  Bulgars  are  still  remembered  at 
Chataldja.  But  Koloucheff  repeats  and  insists 
that  his  country's  policy  remains  neutral.  There 
is  vast  bitterness  at  Sofia  against  every  one, 
and  the  Bulgars  feel  themselves  Ishmaelites. 
I  asked  Koloucheff  whether  he  did  not  think 
that  Venizelos,  if  successful  in  the  elections  on 
Sunday,  would  come  to  terms  over  Cavalla.  He 
was  inclined  to  doubt  it.  He  regards  Venizelos 
as  a  great  man,  but  while  pretending  to  be  for 
Balkanic  confederation,  is  in  reality  against  it, 
his  pretensions  rendering  it  impossible,  and 
though  he  talked  otherwise,  he  would  abandon 
nothing.  Koloucheff  was  insistent  and  indignant 
about  the  charge  of  munitions  passing  through 
Bulgaria.     He  staked  his  head  it  was  untrue. 


no  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Colonel  Marcoff  speaks  the  same  way.  Yet 
guns  and  munitions  have  lately  arrived,  though 
it  is  possible  that  they  come  only  from  Adria- 
nople,  where  the  last  forts  are  being  dismantled, 
and  even  the  telephone  apparatus  taken  down. 
When  the  Turks  have  thoroughly  stripped 
themselves,  the  Bulgars  will  walk  in. 

A  transport  has  been  sunk  in  the  Marmora. 
Of  800  on  board,  soldiers  discharged  from  the 
hospitals  and  again  sent  to  the  front,  only  150 
were  saved!  Some  wounded  on  their  way  here 
witnessed  the  disaster — thousands  of  more 
wounded  have  come.  The  losses  have  been 
immense ! 

June  II. — I  saw  the  Breslau  on  her  return 
from  the  Black  Sea,  passing  Therapia  at  full 
speed  at  half-past  four  o'clock  this  morning. 
Later,  seeing  her  from  the  Embassy,  she 
looked  as  if  her  forward  gun  was  missing.  Both 
dead  and  wounded  were  removed  from  her, 
so  she  had  been  in  action.  The  time  of  her 
absence  from  port  made  it  likely  that  she  had 
gone  to  Soungouldak,  and  perhaps  had  a  brush 
with  Russian  destroyers.  The  latter  are  active, 
but  their  bombardment  is  not  always  thorough, 
and  colliers  sheltered  by  the  jetty  wall  go  un- 
scathed. Within  the  last  three  weeks  about 
twenty  thousand  tons  of  coal  had  arrived  from 
there,   which   a   more   rigid  surveillance  could 


AMERICA  AND  WAR  in 

have  prevented.  Whenever  a  bombardment 
takes  place  the  Turks  at  once  send  out  colliers, 
with  the  idea  that  by  starting  promptly  they 
can  finish  their  loading  before  the  Russians 
have  time  to  arrive  again. 

The  day's  sensation  is  provided  by  the 
published  reasons  for  Bryan's  resignation.  I 
had  prophesied  three  months  ago  that  the  sub- 
marines would  lead  to  a  break  with  Germany. 
Captain  W.  complains  that  all  his  German 
friends  save  Von  Spee  cold  shoulder  him  at  the 
Club.  Koloucheff  called  to  ask  about  Wilson's 
note.  He  thought  it  would  have  a  considerable 
effect  in  the  Balkans,  and  already  he  observed 
a  change  in  Bulgaria.  After  having  made  up 
their  mind  to  preserve  neutrality  they  were  now 
wavering  again.  The  moral  impression  caused 
on  neutrals  would  be  decisive,  for  the  latter 
appreciated  that  we  desired  nothing,  and  if 
we  went  to  war  it  was  for  a  principle.  In  his 
judgment  the  war  would  not  last  six  months 
after  our  intervention. 

I  asked  him  about  the  Dardanelles,  as  he 
usually  has  information  from  Enver,  and  though 
coloured,  it  is  more  detailed  then  the  gen- 
eralities one  hears  elsewhere.  The  English  had 
been  driven  back  from  Eski  Keui,  but  still 
retained  the  heights  above  Ari  Bournu,  and 
now  had  control  of  the  water  supply  for  which 


112  BATTLE   AND    HOPES 

they  had  so  long  been  fighting.  The  Germans 
had  all  along  contended  that  the  absence  of 
water  would  be  fatal  to  their  success.  The 
Turks  admit  6000  killed  in  the  last  few  days^ 
and  twice  as  many  wounded,  but  from  a  fair 
Turkish  source  I  hear  their  losses  have  been 
43,000!  The  fighting  is  again  going  on  with 
fierce  severity.  One  can  prophesy  a  great 
Turkish  victory  to-night.  It  is  the  anniversary 
of  the  capture  of  Constantinople  which  they 
have  just  begun  to  celebrate,  and  they  always 
like  successes  for  such  events.  A  friend  to 
w^hom  I  mentioned  this  says  he  met  one  of  the 
Censors,  who  related  to  him  that  the  victory 
had  been  written  up  two  days  ago! 

I  went  to  the  Girls'  College  by  launch  from 
Top  Hane,  where  a  battery  was  posted  and 
sentinels  were  on  watch  against  submarines. 
Afterward  I  walked  over  to  Stenia,  following 
the  water's  edge.  Close  to  Stenia,  where  the 
Goehen  lay  with  her  boom  of  barges,  a  naval 
sentry  challenged  me,  and  I  had  to  turn  inland. 
The  view  of  the  Goehen  was  impeded  by  hoard- 
ings, patrolled  by  sentries,  but  one  could  see 
the  big  ship  perfectly  snug  in  her  tight  cove. 
Behind  her  I  counted  only  seven  torpedo  craft 
instead  of  ten  as  before. 

June  12. — Oddly  enough,  the  papers  have 
not  published  any  victory,  nor  mentioned  Ari 


TURKISH  NERVOUSNESS         113 

Bournu.  Yet  fighting  goes  on  there.  Infer- 
ence points  to  an  Allied  advance,  for  they  would 
have  clutched  at  the  slightest  semblance  of 
success.  The  official  ''  Milli  ''  Agency  has  been 
extremely  quiet.  We  are  no  longer  in  the 
good  days  when  the  heroic  Sergeant  Mehmet 
Chaoush  drove  the  first  landing  party  away  by 
pelting  them  with  stones,  after  which  they 
organized  a  national  subscription  in  his  honour. 
We  did  read  the  other  day  of  one  brave  patriot 
who,  lying  wounded,  and  not  wishing  to  receive 
anything  from  his  countries'  enemies,  refused 
a  glass  of  water  which  an  English  officer, 
imitating  Philip  Sidney,  tendered  him  during 
an  armistice. 

The  fatalism  of  the  East  seems  more  in 
imagination  than  in  act.  One  is  rather  im- 
pressed by  the  nervous  apprehension  and 
timidity  of  the  Turkish  population  than  by  any 
stoical  resignation.  If  this  ever  existed  it  has 
largely  disappeared,  and  I  fancy  the  remaining 
virtues  of  Turkish  soldiery  come  more  from 
docility  and  obedience  than  from  either  fatalism 
or  the  keen  desire  for  victory.  With  the 
civilians  there  is  downright  fear,  which  has 
made  many  of  them  abandon  their  habitual 
pleasure  trips  because  of  submarines.  People 
now  cross  the  Bosphorus  as  though  they 
were  embarking  on  a  dangerous  journey,  and 


114  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

the  ferry-boats'  railings  are  heavy  with  life- 
belts. 

The  Sultan  did  not  attend  yesterday's  cele- 
bration at  the  Conqueror's  Mosque.  It  had 
been  his  custom  on  this  occasion  to  cross  to 
Stamboul  by  boat,  and  he  did  not  like  to  risk 
this  or  manifest  nervousness  by  resorting  to  a 
carriage.  So  he  preferred  the  legend  of  his 
illness  to  be  circulated.  A  wire  had  been  sent 
by  Djemal  from  Jerusalem  asking  that  his  name 
might  be  associated  with  that  of  the  Conqueror 
in  prayer.  People  wonder  where  Djemal's 
ambitions  will  lead  him.  He  stays  away  from 
Constantinople  while  great  events  are  being 
decided,  although  the  Syrian  army  is  stripped 
to  a  skeleton.  Is  It  for  later  events  in  Ana- 
tolia? 

June  13. — There  are  fewer  soldiers  at  The- 
rapia  than  last  week,  and  those  are  untrained. 
Many  are  Arabs  from  Mesopotamia.  The 
defences  of  the  Empire  are  being  concentrated 
here  for  the  final  resistance,  but  the  men  one 
sees  are  no  longer  properly  armed  nor  equipped. 
In  the  afternoon  I  heard  the  sound  of  distant 
firing,  and  from  the  terrace  above  could  see 
smoke  lifting  from  the  Black  Sea.  But  it  was 
only  an  exchange  of  shots  with  Russian  ships 
and  not  a  regular  bombardment.  The  dead 
from  the  Breslau  have  been  buried  in  the  garden 


WILL  AMERICA  JOIN  115 

of  the  German  Embassy  here.  But  I  could 
not  discover  how  many  there  were,  for  every- 
thing is  kept  secret. 

Returning  to  town,  I  found  that  the  German 
Embassy  had  approached  us  to  cable  Washing- 
ton to  protest  about  the  torpedoing  without 
warning  of  the  two  Rickmers  steamers  in  the 
Marmora.  One  of  these  was  said  to  be  filled 
with  wounded,  but  their  note  neglected  to  say 
that  these  had  been  discharged  from  the  hos- 
pital and  were  again  on  their  way  back  to  the 
Dardanelles.  One  cannot  but  be  struck  by  the 
German  inability  to  understand  our  position 
over  the  Lusitania.  The  Turkish  press  has 
begun  to  discuss  the  likelihood  of  our  rupture. 
Their  articles  are  not  enlightening,  and  mainly 
consist  in  utterly  distorting  the  question,  while 
stating  that  our  entrance  into  the  war  will  free 
Germany  from  the  inconveniences  arising  from 
our  previous  neutrality.  Though  we  break 
with  Germany,  hostilities  with  Turkey  need 
not  follow.  Personally  I  think  the  Turks  would 
rather  welcome  these  than  otherwise;  their 
idea  would  be  that  we  can  do  them  no  harm, 
while  they  are  able  to  get  rid  of  American 
missionaries  and  seize  our  institutions.  The 
day  of  reckoning  may  be  close,  but  the  Turks 
have  never  bothered  about  anything  not  im- 
minent. 


ii6  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Two  Russian  ships  have  bombarded  Sam- 
soun  and  caused  considerable  damage. 

June  14. — There  are  frequent  rumours  that 
the  Sultan  has  had  a  stroke  and  is  very  ill. 
Here  everything,  and  especially  Palace  news, 
is  carefully  guarded,  so  it  is  impossible  to  verify. 
There  is  reason  for  mystery  if  the  current  gossip 
be  true  that  the  Committee  does  not  want 
Yussuf  Izeddin  on  the  throne  and  are  planning 
to  alter  the  law  of  succession. 

Hassan,  our  best  kavass,  has  returned  from 
Afioun  Karahissar,  where  he  was  allowed  to 
hand  over  the  relief  to  the  prisoners,  mostly  from 
the  submarines — there  were  sixty-five  English 
and  thirty-four  French.  Unfortunately  not  quite 
enough  money  was  sent,  so  the  officers  contented 
themselves  with  ninety  piastres  apiece,  while  the 
men  each  received  a  pound.  The  officers, 
he  reports,  are  quite  comfortable  in  a  large 
house  with  a  garden  half  the  size  of  the  British 
Embassy  garden  here,  while  a  ^*  medresse  "  ^ 
has  been  utilized  for  the  men.  The  climate  of 
the  place  is  good,  and  there  is  no  present 
ground  for  complaint.  Once  prisoners  are 
behind  the  lines  they  are  all  right,  but  I  feel 
very  uncertain  about  the  fate  of  two  hundred 
French  colonial  infantry  captured  the  first  day 
at  Kumkaleh.     W.  was  told  that  along  with 

1  A  theological  seminary. 


MISERY  IN  THE  INTERIOR       117 

the  battalion  escorting  them  they  came  under 
the  fire  of  a  French  warship  and  were  com- 
pletely destroyed.  L.  heard  that  the  Laze 
soldiers  insisted  on  massacring  prisoners — this 
from  a  Turkish  source.  The  reports  of  no 
quarter  have  been  too  frequent. 

A  horrible  report  of  suffering  came  from  an 
American  surgeon  at  Erzeroum.  Illness  and 
wounds  not  being  enough,  men  have  perished 
literally  of  starvation  in  the  hospital.  It  was 
so  congested  that  the  wounded  were  told  to 
tramp  on  foot  to  Erzingian,  and  many  lay  down 
on  the  roadside  to  die.  Every  night  those  who 
died  in  the  hospital  would  be  buried  in  a  pit, 
and  often  the  dying  as  well  were  thrown  in.  He 
mentioned  cases  of  Russian  wounded  stripped 
of  clothing  in  the  winter  months  and  dying  of 
exposure.  I  have  rarely  read  a  more  terrible 
account  of  misery.  From  every  side  arrive 
painful  dispatches.  Aleppo  is  full  of  Armenian 
villagers  from  the  Zeitoun,  expelled  from  their 
homes  and  sent  elsewhere  to  perish — the  au- 
thorities care  little  where,  so  long  as  they  break 
up  these  communities.  Even  the  name  of 
Zeitoun  is  to  disappear,  and  has  been  altered 
to  Suleymanleh,  to  give  it  a  Moslem  sound. 

It  looks  as  if  the  break  between  Turkey  and 
Italy  might  come  from  the  Cilician  coast,  as  the 
Consuls  are  to  be  whisked   away   before   the 


ii8  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Ambassador,  who  is  always  certain  of  immunity. 
An  Italian  warship  was  sent  to  Adalia  to  embark 
the  Consul,  but  this  was  refused,  and  he  was 
told  to  leave  either  from  Vourla,  near  Smyrna, 
or  Constantinople.  Garroni  is  instructed  to 
insist,  but  his  position  is  delicate,  and  he 
prefers  to  break  frankly  with  the  Turks  than 
over  a  subterfuge.  They  are  a  little  concerned 
in  leaving  us  their  interests,  as  since  the  Lusi- 
tania  note  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  we 
will  stay  here  through  the  war. 

June  15. — The  Sultan  Is  worse.  He  has 
uraemia  and  albumen,  and  at  his  age  and  with 
his  corpulence  little  hope  is  entertained.  Prof. 
Israel  has  been  sent  for  from  Berlin  and  Is  now 
on  his  way.  Meanw^hile  Yussuf  Izeddin  1  has 
discarded  his  motor  car  and  shows  himself 
daily  in  the  streets  in  an  open  carriage.  He 
is  very  frightened  of  being  passed  over,  and 
wants  to  prove  his  existence.  Without  the 
genuinely  good  qualities  and  personal  kindli- 
ness of  the  present  sovereign,  he  is  supposed 
to  have  his  negativeness  and  should  be  a  tool 
in  the  hands  of  the  Committee. 

A  great  fire  to-day  raged  in  the  SalIJi  Bazar 
quarter.  No  one  has  any  more  coal,  and  it 
broke  out,  from  a  gas  stove,  at  midday,  and 
spread  swiftly  through  that  quarter  where  the 

^  The  Heir  Presumptive. 


ARMENIANS  HANGED  119 

old  wooden  houses  fed  the  flames.  I  watched 
the  spectacle  from  the  French  Embassy  terrace. 
Even  at  that  distance  one  could  feel  the  heat. 
House  after  house  was  destroyed  without  the 
firemen's  hose  being  able  to  stop  it.  The  hill 
above  Top  Han6  was  crowded  with  refugees 
who  had  gathered  such  effects  they  could  save. 
At  one  time  the  Italian  hospital  was  threatened, 
and  we  made  arrangements  to  move  the  sick 
to  our  own,  but  the  wind  fortunately  changed 
in  the  nick  of  time  to  save  it.  There  are 
hundreds  of  homeless  people,  and  more  desti- 
tution.    When  will  calamities  cease  here! 

I  met  the  Spanish  Minister  greatly  excited 
because  the  Germans  told  him  of  their  indif- 
ference if  we  went  to  war.  I  remarked  there 
was  the  drunkenness  of  force,  just  as  of  alcohol. 
F.  Bey  had  also  heard  that  we  were  about  to 
fight  the  Germans.  If  it  comes  to  war,  it  will 
certainly  mean  leaving  here,  for  the  Turks  will 
use  it  as  an  excuse  to  seize  the  schools.  Wan- 
genheim  makes  no  secret  of  this,  and  it  is 
sufficiently  obvious.  Turkish  rumour  has  it 
that  Adrianople  is  ceded  to  Bulgaria  as  the 
price  of  its  neutrality,  the  Germans  acting  as 
the  dishonest  brokers.  It  seems  incredible  for 
this  Government  to  consent  to  such  a  cession, 
yet  nothing  is  now  impossible. 

This     morning     twenty     Armenians     were 


120  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

hanged  at  the  Seraskierat.  The  whole  affair 
is  mysterious,  and  the  versions  circulated  are 
conflicting,  but  the  most  plausible,  related  by 
a  senator,  is  that  it  concerns  an  old  conspiracy 
against  Talaat,  and  that  the  men  executed 
have  been  in  prison  for  a  year. 

I  called  on  the  Grand  Rabbi  to  show  him  a 
wire  from  Jerusalem  regarding  the  proposed  ex- 
pulsion of  the  wives  and  children  of  the  Russian 
Jews  there.  Widows  and  unmarried  women  of 
belligerent  origin  may  become  Ottomans,  but 
will  even  then  be  deported  into  the  interior. 
Such  are  the  advantages  of  Turkish  citizenship! 
He  will  bring  it  up  before  Talaat,  but  with  little 
hope  of  success,  as  the  measure  has  been  con- 
templated for  a  long  time.  He  told  me  he 
understood  the  Government's  unwillingness  to 
allow  Palestine  to  become  a  "  Russian  Vilayet." 

June  14. — Yesterday's  fire  was  far  more 
extensive  than  at  first  supposed — 700  houses 
at  least  have  been  burned  down.  The  muzzled 
local  press  alludes  to  it  only  by  saying  that 
thanks  to  the  firemen  it  was  promptly  extin- 
guished, and  devotes  more  attention  to  the 
burning  of  Dunrobin  Castle  in  Scotland.  The 
people  regard  it  as  a  kind  of  visitation  for 
the  hanging  of  so  many  innocent  Armenians. 
To-day  there  has  been  another  fire  in  the 
Kassim  Pasha  quarter. 


PRO-GERMANS  IN  GREECE       121 

Went  to  Robert  College  commencement  to 
hear  the  students  make  various  addresses  in  all 
the  tongues  of  the  East.  It  has  always  seemed 
to  me  a  mistake  encouraging  eloquence  and 
rhetoric  among  boys  who  are  naturally  too 
prone  in  that  direction.  D.,  who  was  there, 
told  me  he  had  been  to  the  German  Embassy 
in  the  morning,  where  they  were  bitter  against 
Americans  and  myself  in  particular. 

Nothing  has  come  in  yet  about  the  Greek 
elections,  but  the  silence  looks  as  if  they  were 
favourable  to  Venizelos.  There  are  ugly 
charges  about  of  the  Greek  Government  favour- 
ing the  German  submarines,  and  allowing  these 
to  pass  through  the  Corinth  Canal  and  establish 
a  base  at  Volo.  I  find  it  hard  to  believe,  but 
immense  efforts  have  been  made  of  late  in 
Greece.  The  King  and,  to  a  certain  extent, 
the  army  are  pro-German,  and  some  of  the 
politicians  as  well  are  in  a  spirit  of  opposition. 
Here  it  is  the  contrary  among  Greeks.  They 
have  suffered  too  much,  and,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
all  repressive  measures  are  usually  laid  by  the 
Turks  at  the  German  door.  The  requisitions 
too  have  been  used  as  confiscations.  A  Greek 
doctor  told  Helene  yesterday  that  his  son-in- 
law,  a  prosperous  woollen  merchant,  had  been 
utterly  ruined  in  a  day,  by  having  all  his  stock 
seized.     Even  receipts  when  given  are  valueless. 


122  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

The  most  important  development  Is  now- 
awaited  from  Bulgaria.  Koloucheff  called  to 
say  he  was  leaving  at  once  for  Sofia,  the  reason 
being  his  wife's  confinement,  though  it  is  her 
third  child.  The  news  here  is  that  Adrianople 
is  completely  evacuated,  even  the  railway 
archives  having  been  removed,  and  report  has 
it  that  the  Bulgars  are  to  occupy  the  place 
within  a  few  days.  I  heard  on  good  authority 
that  lately  arrived  Syrian  troops  are  being  sent 
toward  the  Bulgarian  frontier  instead  of  to 
the  Dardanelles.  This  afternoon  the  official 
'*  Agence  Milli  "  speaks  of  Radoslavoff's  nego- 
tiations with  the  Quadruple  Entente,  and 
the  basis  of  cessions  from  Serbia  include 
Monastir  and  Okhrida.  The  news,  true  or 
false,  is  less  important  now  than  the  reason  for 
its  publication.  Is  it  to  prepare  opinion  for  a 
rupture,  or  for  a  cession  of  Adrianople?  There 
is  some  hidden  motive  which  we  shall  probably 
fathom  in  the  next  few  days.  The  censorship 
is  rarely  purposeless,  and  one  has  to  forecast 
events  by  taking  statements  at  their  opposite 
value. 

June  17. — Continued  uncertainty  and  ob- 
scurity, with  little  idea  of  what  is  going  on. 
From  Athens  comes  news  of  Venizelos'  triumph, 
but  here  the  press  Is  not  allowed  to  publish 
this,   and   still   talks  as  If   Gounaris   had   the 


ESPIONAGE  AND  MURDER  123 

majority.  The  manoeuvre  is  puerile,  for  every 
one  knows  the  contrary,  and  every  Greek  in 
town  rejoices,  without  daring  to  mention  his 
name  in  the  street — for  the  street  as  well  as 
the  drawing-room  is  infested  with  spies,  and 
conversations  overheard  lead  to  the  court- 
martial.  Thus,  an  unknown  woman  called  as 
a  patient  on  a  Greek  doctor  here.  She  asked 
him  for  news,  and  he  mentioned  the  fact  that 
the  Sultan  was  ill.  Two  hours  later  he  was 
arrested.  The  service  of  female  espionage  is 
especially  well  organized,  and  even  a  young  girl 
one  meets  everywhere  is  said  to  belong  to  this. 
Two  Armenian  deputies,  Zohrab  and 
Vartkes,  have  been  arrested,  and,  because 
they  fear  sympathy  for  them  in  the  town,  are 
being  sent  into  the  interior  for  what  is  called 
trial. 1  Yet  before  the  war  Vartkes  was  hand 
in  glove  with  the  Committee,  and  counted 
many  Turkish  friends.  Meanwhile  more  hang- 
ings are  promised,  and  we  have  gallows  in 
place  of  the  guillotine.  The  people  are 
thoroughly  cowed,  and  all  public  talk  on 
political  topics  has  to  be  avoided.  I  have 
cautioned  the  servants  to  be  most  careful  in 
what  they  say. 

1  Both  were  murdered.  The  official  report  read  that  one 
died  of  heart  disease,  the  other  of  a  fall  from  his  horse.  As  a 
Turk,  with  grim  humour,  remarked  of  the  latter,  it  was  likely 
enough  that  when  shot  he  should  have  fallen  from  his  horse. 


124  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

The  Italian  Government  evidently  intends 
to  keep  the  Embassy  here  for  the  present  and 
use  it  as  a  kind  of  club,  to  facilitate  the  de- 
parture of  all  Italians  by  threatening  a  rupture. 
Meanwhile  their  position  is  not  enviable,  and 
they  are  daily  insulted  in  the  press,  where 
stories  of  Italian  troops  running  away  are  pub- 
lished. The  situation  cannot  long  go  on  this 
way,  and  some  incident  to  end  it  is  bound  to 
crop  up.  In  case  of  rupture  the  Italians  are  to 
turn  over  to  us  Montenegrin  as  well  as  Russian 
interests. 

June  1 8. — The  Italian  Government  does 
not  want  a  rupture  with  Turkey,  as  it  would 
remain  a  paper  war.  So  long  as  they  need  all 
their  strength  against  Austria  and  a  possible 
German  offensive  as  well,  they  are  right  not  to 
divert  any  troops  here;  and  a  mere  break 
without  military  accompaniment  would  expose 
Italians  in  Turkey  to  unnecessary  persecution. 
It  is  not  unlikely,  if  the  Russians  are  driven 
out  of  Galicia,  that  the  next  offensive  will  be 
against  Italy.  The  Galician  campaign  has 
been  as  much  political  as  military,  and  already 
has  put  a  quietus  on  Roumania.  Even  those 
most  in  favour  of  intervention  now  believe  that 
the  time  is  not  yet  ripe.  The  Roumanians  are 
in  a  vicious  circle.  If  they  enter  now  they 
could  obtain  all  they  want,  but  would  run  the 


TURKISH  FORCES  125 

risk  of  being  crushed  by  the  German-Austrian 
wave.  If  they  wait  for  the  Russians  to  reform, 
their  intervention  will  no  longer  be  necessary, 
and  the  Bukowina  and  the  Banat  will  slip. 
Prudence  and  ambition  are  at  the  parting  of 
the  ways — both  at  Bucarest  and  at  Sofia. 

There  are  fresh   rumours   that   Bulgaria  is 
about   to   stir.     With   Venizelos   in   power   an 
arrangement    with    Greece    will    be    easier    to 
make.     The  harvest  will  soon   be  reaped,   and 
in  an  agricultural  community  this  has  an  im- 
portant influence.     We  have  little  direct  news 
here,  but  there  are  persistent  reports  of  Turkish 
dissatisfaction,  and  troops  are  again  being  sent 
to  Adrianople  after  the  place  had  been  com- 
pletely   ungarnished.      Yet    there    cannot    be 
many    to    spare.     A    rough    estimate    of    their 
number  since  mobilization  is  as  follows:     At  the 
Dardanelles,    130,000;    in   Thrace,    30,000;    at 
Constantinople  and  Chataldja,  20,000;    on  the 
Bosphorus,   20,000;    in    the    Caucasus,   60,000; 
at  Bagdad  and  the  Persian  Gulf,  20,000;   Syria, 
30,000;    Aleppo  and  Mersine,  30,000;    Smyrna 
district,   30,000;    gendarmerie,   30,000;    at  the 
depots,  50,000;    scattered,  30,000.     The  losses 
may    be    estimated    approximately   as    follows: 
Caucasus,    140,000,   of  whom   more   than    half 
by  disease;    the   Dardanelles,   so  far,    100,000; 
Persian  Gulf,  10,000;    Suez  Campaign,  10,000. 


126  JATTLE  AND  HOPES 

The  total  brings  the  army  to  over  700,000, 
which  is  about  what  they  have  been  able  to 
equip.  There  are  still  abundant  reserves  of 
men,  but  are  there  of  other  things? 

More  dispatches  have  come  about  the 
Armenians.  From  the  Zeitoun  district  62,000 
have  been  expelled,  obliged  to  abandon  all 
their  belongings  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  sent 
destitute  to  starve.  Most  of  them  are  women 
and  children,  for  the  men  had  been  drafted 
into  the  army.  Many  of  the  women  gave  birth 
on  the  roadside  and  left  their  babies  to  die! 

Jime  19. — Enver  lately  spoke  in  high  terms 
of  the  Armenians,  but  justified  the  persecution 
on  the  ground  of  military  necessity.  He  inti- 
mated that  there  might  soon  be  a  change  in 
their  favour.  The  fact  is  that  the  Committee 
fears  the  Armenians.  As  Talaat  had  said 
openly,  the  Tashnakists  ^  know  our  secrets  and 
are  the  only  ones  able  to  do  us  harm.  Mean- 
while the  threat  of  the  Triple  Entente  to  hold 
this  Government  personally  responsible  is  with- 
out effect.  The  Grand  Vizier  was  angry  and 
nervous,  for  all  his  property  lies  in  Egypt;  but 
the  others  have  been  indifferent  to  it,  and  go 
on  with  their  hangings.  Enver  mentioned  a 
Turkish  advance  in  the  Caucasus,  but  said 
nothing  more  about  driving  the  Allies  into  the 
1  An  Armenian  political  organization. 


ANXIOUS  UNREST  127 

sea.  He  has  given  up  predicting.  Private 
news  from  the  Dardanelles  is  that  progress  has 
been  made,  and  quite  a  number  of  Turkish 
prisoners  taken.  The  fact  that  the  papers 
here  should  be  full  of  reports  regarding  the 
abundance  of  munitions  is  rather  a  bad  sign. 
They  are  now  advertising  the  presence  of 
Krupp  workmen  at  Constantinople.  But  they 
have  ordered  all  6-inch  shells  in  the  Trebizond 
district  to  be  dispatched  here  by  motor-boats, 
and  15,000  soldiers  are  to  be  sent  from  that 
neighbourhood.  Men  are  drafted  supposedly 
from  seventeen  to  fifty,  but  they  include  mere 
boys  and  old  men.  Throughout  the  empire 
men  are  being  summoned  for  the  defence  of 
the  Capital.  Every  day  one  sees  new  troops  in 
the  streets,  mostly  an  ill-equipped,  sorry-look- 
ing lot. 

There  Is  a  lull  in  events  and  again  one  has 
the  impression  something  is  brooding,  for  a 
kind  of  anxious  unrest  hangs  over  the  place. 
The  papers  no  longer  speak  of  Sofia  or  Athens, 
which  is  a  bad  sign  for  the  Turks.  No  chief 
of  mission  of  any  Balkan  state  is  here  now, 
and  since  Koloucheff  has  left  the  Germans 
and  Austrians  express  satisfaction.  Turkish 
diplomatic  activity  as  usual  is  kept  more 
than  secret,  but  there  are  signs  of  apprehen- 
sion. 


128  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

The  Sultan's  operation  Is  to  be  postponed 
for  another  week,  if  it  ever  takes  place.  His 
age,  his  corpulence  and  general  condition  do 
not  seem  favourable  to  success.  Apparently 
he  Is  up,  and  receives  in  audience,  but  his 
health  is  bad.  He  took  a  child's  delight  the 
other  day  in  receiving  an  Iron  Cross  from  the 
Kaiser. 

June  20. — The  Turkish  press  has  begun  a 
campaign  against  the  English  use  of  asphyxiat- 
ing gases,  which  is  a  sign  that  they  intend 
utilizing  them.  If  their  enemies  return  to 
mediaeval  warfare,  they  have  no  reason  to  com- 
plain if  similar  methods  are  adopted.  '*  The 
civilization  of  the  Allies  exists  only  in  empty 
phrases."  The  Turks  have  long  ago  attempted 
to  spread  the  legend  of  the  dum-dum,  though 
none  of  our  surgeons  working  among  their 
wounded  have  yet  found  any.  Captain  W. 
showed  me  the  other  day  the  jacket  of  an  English 
bullet  which  after  passing  through  the  thigh  of 
a  man  had  mushroomed  and  resembled  the 
photographs  of  so-called  dum-dums  circulated 
here.  They  probably  mistook,  in  good  faith  or 
in  bad,  some  similar  bullet  for  what  the  Germans 
have  told  them  are  dum-dums. 

I  walked  with  Garroni  to  NIshantash.  On 
our  way  we  met  W.,  who  had  just  returned  from 
Wangenheim.     The  latter  is  unwell  and  almost 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR       129 

a  nerv^ous  wreck.  Garroni  related  to  me  that  on 
July  15  last,  the  date  of  his  birthday,  Wangen- 
heim,  who  had  returned  from  Berlin  the  day 
before,  called  to  congratulate  him.  He  told  him 
that  the  Emperor,  alarmed  by  the  Russian 
military  preparations,  had  summoned  a  con- 
ference of  ambassadors,  generals,  and  leaders 
of  industry.  War  had  been  irrevocably  decided. 
The  Archduke's  murder  was  to  furnish  the  pre- 
text. An  ultimatum  would  be  presented  to 
Serbia  of  a  nature  which  she  could  not  accept, 
and  war  would  be  declared  forty-eight  hours 
later.  The  German  reasoning  took  into  ac- 
count the  immediate  crushing  of  France.  There 
was  greater  uncertainty  about  England.  Italy 
would  be  forced  by  German  victory  to  fight 
with  her.     Such  was  the  programme. 

Garroni  told  me  that,  freshly  arrived  here, 
he  did  not  like  to  wire  this  hearsay  news  to 
Rome,  in  spite  of  its  source,  as  he  was  sure 
that  his  colleague  in  Berlin  must  have  done  so. 
During  the  days  of  apparent  lull  which  followed, 
he  was  glad  not  to  have  done  so,  convinced 
that  Wangenheim  must  have  been  mistaken. 
The  Emperor's  yachting  trip  to  Norway,  as 
was  intended,  misled  Europe  with  the  belief 
that  nothing  was  impending.  Rome  remained 
in  ignorance  when  the  storm  burst,  and  could 
do  no  more  than  declare  her  non-participation. 


130  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

*'  If  my  telegram  had  been  sent,"  Garroni  said 
to  me,  "  its  publication  would  have  furnished 
the  clearest  proof  that  the  so-called  attempts 
on  the  Emperor's  part  to  keep  the  peace  were 
all  humbug.'* 

M.,  back  from  a  ride  with  Enver  in  the 
forest  of  Belgrade,  found  him  confident  as 
always  of  the  impregnability  of  the  Dardanelles 
and  of  Turkey.  "  Even  if  Bulgaria  moves," 
he  said,  "  and  Bulgaria  cannot  remain  neutral, 
all  means  have  been  taken  to  resist  her."  His 
calm  confidence  is  impressive.  Koloucheff 
hinted  at  a  kind  of  mystic  insanity  in  his  nature. 
Yet  this  confidence  saved  the  day  here  when 
every  one  else  had  lost  their  heads  after  the 
Caucasus  disaster.  At  present  Enver  is  occupied 
in  money  making.  He  uses  his  wife's  fortune 
to  buy  land  in  Anatolia,  and  has  lately  purchased 
vast  estates  near  Konia.  The  best  agricultural 
land  in  Anatolia  can  now  be  bought  for  two 
piastres  a  deunum,  he  said,  and  he  urged  his 
friends  to  buy  with  him.  His  ambitions  have 
perhaps  not  yet  reached  their  zenith.  He  now 
aspires  to  wealth  after  having  been  born  poor. 
He  related  that  his  mother  was  eleven  years  of 
age,  his  father  sixteen  when  they  married.  His 
own  life  has  been  one  series  of  adventures,  and 
he  has  paradoxically  achieved  success  through 
unsuccess,  for  his  military  adventures,  whether 


ENVER'S  CAREER  131 

in  Tripoli,  in  the  Balkan  War,  or  In  the  Caucasus, 
have  all  been  failures.  But  his  courage  and 
self-confidence  have  thus  far  been  successful  in 
a  land  where  both  virtues  are  rare,  while  he 
hitches  his  chariot  to  the  German  star.  Add 
to  that  impartiality  as  an  administrator — he 
removed  his  closest  relations  from  office  when 
they  were  found  incompetent — and  also  a  certain 
capacity  for  handling  affairs  though  he  never  has 
a  memorandum.  He  remains  a  type  of  Oriental 
leader  who  may  reach  any  height  or  die  in  the 
dust.  He  himself  is  said  to  expect  assassina- 
tion. If  he  escapes  it,  those  who  know  him 
best  believe  he  aspires  to  a  crown  and  aims 
to  establish  his  own  dynasty  after  the  present 
Sultan  has  passed  away,  or  possibly  after  his 
successor  proves  his  unfitness. 

June  21. — This  morning  a  surprise  awaited 
the  various  Entente  attaches  who  remain  at  the 
Embassy — all  received  notice  from  the  police 
to  leave  the  country  within  forty-eight  hours. 
One  of  these  was  in  tears,  the  others  took  it 
more  calmly.  At  the  Italian  Embassy  the 
remaining  Russians  received  similar  notices. 
The  reason  given  is  a  reprisal  against  the 
recent  English  action  in  deporting  or  Interning 
all  belligerent  subjects.  We  had  received  an 
open  wire  the  other  day  from  London  that  the 
harmless    archivist    of    the    Turkish    Embassy 


132  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

could  no  longer  stay  there,  and  asking  where 
he  was  to  go.  Of  course  the  Turks  pounced 
on  this  as  an  excuse,  and  one  can  hardly  blame 
them  so  far  as  the  English  are  concerned.  In 
London  they  forgot  that,  while  there  are  prac- 
tically no  Turks  there,  and  the  only  Ottomans 
are  Armenians  and  Greeks,  who  hate  the  Turks, 
there  are  plenty  of  English  here  who  can  be 
made  to  suffer.  The  Embassy  will  try  to 
oppose  it  more  because  of  its  likely  ramifica- 
tions than  for  the  matter  itself.  M.  took  it  up 
in  the  afternoon  with  the  Grand  Vizier,  who 
was  delighted  to  have  a  chance  of  showing  his 
authority.  So  far  as  C.'s  expulsion  was  con- 
cerned he  proved  inexorable,  and  the  proposal 
to  secure  a  rescinding  of  the  order  in  England 
was  dismissed  with  a  "  Let  them  do  what  they 
like;  we  don't  care."  He  was  somewhat  more 
tractable  over  the  unfortunate  French,  Belgian, 
and  Serbian  representatives,  though  promising 
nothing.  There  was  a  certain  feeling  against 
L.,  who  is  charged  with  having  assisted  the 
priests,  though  the  real  reason  is  that  he  has 
too  many  Turkish  friends.  The  Grand  Vizier 
acknowledged  that  the  police  had  no  business 
to  send  such  communications  directly  to  officials 
attached  to  the  Embassy,  and  said  we  should 
hear  again  from  the  Porte.  His  tone,  as  well 
as  Talaat*s,  was  extremely  confident.     Indeed, 


EXPULSION  133 

the  most  significant  feature  of  the  measure  is 
the  confidence  denoted.  The  Turks  are  cocky. 
They  have  no  apprehension  about  the  Darda- 
nelles. They  are  elated  at  the  Russian  disaster 
in  Galicia,  and  they  are  reassured  over  Bulgaria. 
The  air  is  full  of  rumours  of  agreement  with 
Sofia.  I  hardly  believe  the  latter,  but  I  did 
hear  more  credibly  that  the  Bulgarian  reply  to 
the  Entente  was  evasive,  and  I  gather  they  are 
not  in  fear  of  them  here  for  the  present.  At 
Bucarest  all  is  quiet.  Roumania  hides  its  head 
in  the  ground. 

At  the  Club  I  chatted  with  Ismet,  the  Pre- 
fect of  the  City,  over  the  future  of  Islamic  art 
and  its  capacity  to  conform  itself  to  modern 
requirements.  Much  could  be  made  of  it,  but 
he  regarded  the  style  as  too  expensive.  He 
was  full  of  projects  of  new  roads  to  be  built, 
but  all  had  to  be  delayed  till  after  the  war.  I 
asked  about  the  art  treasures  at  Kerbela,  which 
I  suspect  he  would  like  to  bring  here  to  the 
museum  of  the  Evkaf.  He  believes  in  such 
concentration,  mainly  because  of  the  fear  of 
robbery  if  kept  in  the  provinces. 

June  22. — The  topic  of  the  day  is  the  ex- 
pulsions of  the  attaches.  Those  concerned  are 
to  sleep  at  the  Embassy  to  avoid  a  before 
dawn  perquisition  by  the  police.  For  Bedri, 
our  energetic   Prefect  of   Police,   delighted   to 


134  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

show  his  authority,  promised  as  much.  In  the 
afternoon  Enver  was  approached  on  the  subject. 
He  acknowledged  at  once  that  the  form  in 
which  the  order  had  been  delivered  was  wrong, 
but  justified  the  measure  on  other  grounds. 
The  men  in  question  had  been  followed  by  the 
secret  police,  and  it  was  known  whom  they  saw 
and  that  they  were  sending  information  to  their 
Governments.  This  discovery  has  been  made 
after  eight  months  of  war!  Enver  went  on  to 
say  that  he  could  either  have  had  them  brought 
before  the  court-martial  or  expelled.  He  did 
neither,  but  merely  rescinded  the  previous  per- 
mission by  which  they  had  been  attached  to 
the  Italian  Embassy  and  our  own.  They 
should  therefore  leave.  S.,  who,  as  a  Russian, 
is  most  hated,  goes  on  Thursday,  C,  Friday, 
and  L.  and  D.  on  the  following  Tuesday;  the 
inoffensive  Baron  H.,  who  can  at  a  pinch  pro- 
duce passports  from  three  different  countries, 
still  later.  The  measure  becomes  ludicrous 
where  the  Belgian  dragoman  is  concerned. 

Colonel  P.  retailed  to  me  the  Dardanelles 
gossip.  All  agree  over  the  hard  fighting,  for 
many  new  wounded  have  arrived,  but  the  details 
furnished,  doubtless  by  Galata  imagination, 
cover  a  new  landing  near  Gallipoli,  another 
landing  on  the  Asiatic  side,  and  a  fresh  advance 
from  Seddulbahr.    It  is  impossible  to  attach  faith 


FIGHTING  AT  DARDANELLES     135 

to  anything  when  we  do  not  even  know  in  whose 
hands  Krithia  lies,  or  whether  the  Allies  have 
established  themselves  at  Atchi  Baba.  P.  was 
emphatic  that  troops  had  been  sent  to  Kirk 
Kilisse,  and  again  to  Adrlanople,  doubtless  to 
exert  pressure  on  the  half-baked  negotiations 
with  Bulgaria.  But  Colonel  M.,  whose  judg- 
ment is  more  sober,  was  less  positive.  We  sat 
yesterday  evening  discussing  the  military  situa- 
tion, but  knowledge  of  facts  is  too  incomplete. 
M.'s  opinion  of  Enver  is  not  high.  He  re- 
gards him  as  courageous,  patriotic,  and  adroit, 
but  with  no  military  capacity.  After  he  left 
Cyrenaica,  the  Arab  resistance  proved  far  more 
difficult  to  overcome. 

June  23. — Again  come  reports  of  stern 
fighting  at  the  Dardanelles.  We  know  now 
that  the  Allies  have  brought  up  heavy  artillery. 
I  did  hear  from  a  supposedly  competent  source, 
that  if  more  reinforcements  came  the  possi- 
bility of  an  indefinite  defence  was  no  longer 
certain.  In  London  and  Paris  they  are  con- 
fident. Here  they  are  equally  so.  One  cannot 
help  being  puzzled  as  to  the  reason  for  the 
enterprise  once  it  became  so  difficult.  Has 
the  future  of  Constantinople  and  the  Straits 
been  settled  beforehand?  Are  the  present 
English  and  French  sacrifices  made  to  turn 
everything  over  to  Russia?     I  hear  that  nothing 


136  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

is  settled  yet.  The  Balkan  States  would  hate 
such  a  solution,  and  the  Germans  at  Bucarest 
have  not  been  slow  to  point  out  this  danger, 
hiring  Roumanian  professors  to  lecture  on  it. 
P.,  with  whom  I  discussed  it,  hints  at  Con- 
stantinople being  given  jointly  to  the  Balkan 
powers,  but  this  is  a  purely  Greek  fancy. 
Russia,  of  course,  wants  the  Straits  above 
everything;  and  internationalization,  while  it 
might  guarantee  others  from  entering  the  Black 
Sea,  would  not  permit  her  to  go  out  at  will. 
Meanwhile  one  high  diplomat  here  firmly 
believes  that  England  intends  keeping  the 
Gallipoli  peninsula  as  an  insurance.  There  is 
a  general  idea  prevailing  here,  that  England 
and  France  have  undertaken  the  job  as  a  kind 
of  guarantee  against  Russia  making  a  separate 
peace.  Now  that  she  is  beaten  in  Galicia  the 
Germans  are  full  of  the  peace  idea  and  doubt- 
less ready  to  offer  good  terms.  One  Minister, 
whose  information  comes  generally  from  the 
German  Embassy,  said  here  at  dinner  last  night 
he  knew  positively  that  private  negotiations 
were  about  to  begin.  The  chorus  is  that  Rus- 
sia has  been  crushed  and  cannot  put  another 
army  into  the  field  for  a  long  time.  Certainly 
her  retreat  has  been  phenomenally  rapid.  Does 
it  mean  that  the  Germans  can  now  turn  in 
overwhelming    numbers    against    the    Western 


OPERATION  ON  THE  SULTAN     137 

front,  or  the  Italians?  The  idea  Is  plausible, 
but  perhaps  less  easy  to  realize.  They  were 
exhausted  after  the  rapid  march  to  the  Marne. 
Will  the  Galician  campaign  prove  less  tiring? 

There  are  more  reports  of  growing  ill- 
feeling  between  Turks  and  Germans.  The 
former  complain  that  they  are  sent  to  attack 
while  the  Germans  remain  in  safe  places. 
"  Who  ever  heard  of  a  German  officer  being 
killed  at  the  Dardanelles?  "  a  Turkish  officer 
said.  In  spite  of  this  the  antagonism  will  only 
remain  skin  deep  just  so  long  as  the  Turks 
are  confident  or  still  need  German  aid.  In 
adversity  or  in  victory  it  will  be  otherwise. 
In  the  former  event  particularly  I  should  not 
care  to  be  in  German  boots.  ''  We  have  not 
throw^n  off  six  masters  to  exchange  them  for 
one,"  an  official  said  lately.  From  the  pro- 
vinces as  well  come  reports  of  the  same  ill- 
feeling. 

June  24. — The  Sultan  was  operated  on  this 
morning  and  two  large  stones  removed  from 
his  bladder.  The  customary  bulletin  about  the 
complete  success  of  the  operation  has  been 
published.  But  to-morrow's  festivity  is  counter- 
manded, and  it  will  be  days  before  anything 
is  known.  Meanwhile  the  heirs  throng  the 
Palace.  The  Committee  hints  that  Yussuf 
Izeddin,    next   in   succession,    is   not   of   right 


138  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

mind.i  After  him  comes  Vahid-eddin,  who  is 
said  to  have  an  imperious  will  and  a  hatred  of 
those  in  power.  He  has  little  chance  just  now, 
and  the  Committee's  favourite  is  Medjid.  But 
it  will  be  difficult  to  pass  over  the  normal  laws 
of  succession. 

Garroni  called,  worried  over  his  nationals 
at  Alexandretta,  whom  the  Turks  will  not 
allow  to  leave.  The  Italian  situation  is  curious. 
The  Embassy  remains  to  facilitate  their  citizens' 
departure,  threatening  otherwise  the  direct  con- 
sequences. The  Turks  do  not  relish  a  break, 
but  would  like  to  retain  the  Italians  as  hostages. 
So  they  fix  impossible  ports  of  departure  like 
Vourla,  and  as  all  travel  is  stopped  except  by 
military  trains,  they  make  their  leaving  prac- 
tically out  of  the  question.  How  long  can  this 
last? 

The  poor  English  prisoners  at  Afioun 
Karahissar  are  still  without  the  books  we  col- 
lected for  them  here.  After  sending  everything 
in  accordance  with  the  Porte's  advice  there  was 
no  Censor  there  to  read  English,  so  all  the 
novels  have  been  returned  here  till  some  Turk 
passes  on  them.  The  thing  is  outrageous,  but 
there  is  nothing  to  do.  There  is  no  bureau  of 
prisoners  here,  and  while  at  the  Porte  they 
quote    the    text    of    Hague    Conventions,    by 

*  He  was  "  suicided  "  eight  months  later. 


RUMOURS  FROM  SOFIA  139 

sheer  mismanagement  they  make  everything 
difficult  for  the  comfort  of  the  prisoners.  They 
love  to  contrast  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  the 
civilian  prisoners  in  a  hell-hole  like  Ourfa  with 
their  captivity  in  concentration  camps  in 
Europe,  but  neglect  to  add  that  they  do  not 
feed  their  civilian  prisoners.  Every  day  we 
receive  wires  of  inquiry  from  England  and 
Australia,  if  men  missing  at  the  Dardanelles 
have  been  captured.  But  it  is  difficult  to  find 
out  even  this.  Practically  no  prisoners  have 
been  taken.  Enver  explained  it  the  other  day 
saying  that  most  of  the  fighting  was  with  the 
bayonet,  but  far  worse  things  are  hinted.  The 
Turks  say  they  photographed  some  of  the  dead 
and  may  be  able  to  identify  them  in  this  way. 

The  last  English  bulletin  I  have  seen  is  not 
very  encouraging.  To  lay  stress  on  an  attack 
by  fifty  men  is  hardly  worth  while.  The  artists 
who  compose  war  bulletins  are  rarely  psycholo- 
gists and  do  not  understand  the  value  of  silence 
when  they  have  only  trifles  to  relate. 

June  25. — Koloucheff  has  returned  from 
Sofia — talkative,  but  little  communicative.  He 
was  curious  to  learn  what  had  taken  place  in 
his  absence,  and  I  related  to  him  Enver's  pro- 
nouncement about  the  impossibility  of  pro- 
tracted neutrality  for  Bulgaria  and  the  possibility 
of  her  joining  Turkey  to  reoccupy  Macedonia. 


I40  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 


ti 


He  IS  crazy,"  was  his  only  comment.  I 
gather  he  thinks  that  Bulgaria  will  later  come 
in  with  the  Allies.  Meanwhile  the  Turks  are 
bluffing  in  sending  a  few  thousand  men  to 
Adrianople  and  Kirk  Kilisse,  most  of  whom 
are  without  rifles.  As  they  know  Bulgaria  has 
no  immediate  Intention  of  moving,  they  do  this 
to  impress  domestic  opinion.  He  told  me  that 
Greeks  and  Serbs  were  both  engaged  now  in 
occupying  as  much  of  Albania  as  possible.  A 
Greek  colonel  who  had  been  ordered  to  march 
to  a  certain  point,  delayed,  and  on  arriving 
there,  finding  he  had  already  been  forestalled 
by  the  Serbians,  committed  suicide  in  Japanese 
style. 

When  Enver  lately  visited  the  American 
Red  Crescent  hospital,  he  made  a  speech  to 
the  men  urging  them  to  get  well,  but  speaking 
of  the  enemies'  perfidious  use  of  dum-dums, 
which  is  a  lie.  The  men  are  in  no  hurry  to 
leave.  Two  of  them,  about  to  be  discharged 
fit  for  service,  began  to  spit  blood.  As  their 
appetite  was  good  and  they  had  no  fever,  the 
doctors  investigated  and  found  they  had 
scratched  their  gums.  The  dum-dum  lie  is  not 
the  only  one.  The  German  newspaper  here 
in  a  long  article  contrasted  the  chivalrous  con- 
duct of  their  submarines  with  the  inhumanity  of 
the  British,  whom  they  state  have  attempted  to 


CONDITIONS  IN  PERSIA  141 

torpedo  hospital  ships,  which  every  one  knows 
here  is  untrue. 

I  visited  the  Persian  Ambassador,  who  spoke 
to  me  of  his  early  life  and  absence  of  education. 
"  I  am  of  good  family,"  he  said,  "  what  else- 
where would  be  called  a  royal  family.     Half 
my  life  was  spent  either  on  military  duty  or 
else  as  a  provincial  governor,  and  no  one  who 
has  not  been  there  can  know  what  the  Persian 
provinces  are."     It  was  not  till  he  was  thirty- 
eight  and  appointed  a  diplomat  to  Berlin  that 
he  realized  that  the  humblest  attache  of  other 
nations    was    better    educated.     He    tried    to 
remedy   this   first   by   studying  grammar,   but 
soon  found  this  inadequate.     He  then  turned  to 
philosophy   and   pursued    this   for   five   years. 
But  not  possessing  the  necessary  groundwork, 
all  was  without  avail.     ''  I  find  my  life  a  failure, 
and,  approaching  death,  realize  how  little  use 
I  have  been  to  my  country."     He  was  deeply 
pessimistic.     He  said  that,  like  himself,   there 
were  only  four  or  five  men  in  Persia  able  to  be 
of  use.     I  urged  him  that  now  was  the  time  to 
act,  and  the  only  action  could  come  through 
friendly  methods.     Persia  was  better  situated 
now  to  obtain  anything  than  before  or  hereafter. 
England   was   friendly   disposed,    but    sub- 
ordinated her  own  desires  to  those  of   Russia. 
The  key  to  the  situation  was  at  Petrograd,  and 


142  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

the  attempt  should  now  be  made,  in  my  judg- 
ment, to  arrive  at  a  definite  understanding  there. 
While  abandoning  nominal  rights,  they  could 
preserve  Persia's  cultural  independence  and 
ensure  the  continuance  of  her  civilization.  The 
important  thing  was  to  arrange  this  amicably 
with  the  better  elements  in  Russia.  He  entirely 
agreed,  but  hinted  where  the  trouble  lay.  His 
son-in-law,  he  told  me,  who  had  twenty  thousand 
pounds  a  year  from  his  estates  on  the  Caspian, 
had  been  reduced  practically  to  beggary  by 
having  these  extorted  from  him  by  Russians. 
In  Persia,  he  said,  every  one  was  Russo- 
phobe and  Anglophile.  Schuster^s  name,  he 
declared,  was  everywhere  revered  as  that  of  a 
saint.  Poor  people!  The  few  patriotic  ones 
feel  their  impotence,  and  the  Ambassador  is  an 
earnest  patriot. 

June  26. — Last  night  three  sharp  distant 
explosions  were  heard  in  quick  succession. 
To-day  I  learn  that  a  Turkish  mine-layer  and 
destroyer  were  both  sunk  by  a  submarine  off 
Haidar  Pasha.  The  submarines  have  made  the 
Marmora  a  British  lake,  and  enter  and  leave  at 
will.  One  English  officer  related  at  Athens  that, 
after  having  exhausted  his  torpedoes,  his  boat 
began  to  leak.  They  stopped  up  the  leaks 
as  best  they  could  with  their  clothes,  and  when 
finally  he  reported  to  the  admiral  in  the  ^Egean 


REPORTS  FROM  DARDANELLES    143 

he  and  his  crew  were  all  in  a  state  of  nudity. 
The  German  submarines  have  accomplished 
nothing  since  their  sensational  arrival,  and 
rumour  has  it  that  they  are  out  of  torpedoes. 
I  called  at  German  headquarters  yesterday  at 
the  War  Office  about  some  English  missing 
men,  but  General  von  Bronsart  was  too  occu- 
pied to  receive  me.  I  suspect  the  Lusitania 
note  was  not  foreign  to  this,  for  he  had  first 
sent  word  asking  me  to  wait,  when  N.  of  the 
Germany  Embassy  entered.  Shortly  afterward 
his  A.D.C.  came  out  and  suggested  that  I 
should  see  some  minor  Turkish  official,  but  I 
replied  I  would  leave  this  to  a  dragoman,  and 
walked  away. 

S.,  who  is  a  pro-German,  arrived  this  morn- 
ing from  the  Dardanelles  with  reports  that  the 
Allies  have  not  advanced  a  foot  since  their 
first  landing,  and  would  never  pass.  Their 
losses,  especially  these  last  days,  have  been 
enormous.  The  French,  he  said,  came  under  the 
fire  of  concealed  batteries  from  the  Anatolian 
side  and  lost  3000  killed.  The  English  moral 
was  poor,  as  shown  by  diaries  found  on  the 
dead.  Both  at  Ari  Bournu  and  Seddulbahr 
they  went  as  far  as  they  could  get  under  the 
protection  of  their  ships  but  no  further — one 
kilometre  and  five  respectively,  in  the  two 
positions.     On    questioning    him,    however,    I 


144  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

found  that  he  had  not  been  beyond  the  German 
headquarters  and  was  retailing  the  news  they 
want  given  out.  The  advance  has  doubtless 
been  slow,  but  it  is  hardly  possible  that  there 
should  be  none.  He  certainly  understated  the 
Turkish  losses  when  he  put  them  down  at 
30,000.  Here  the  estimate  is  at  least  100,000, 
for  more  than  30,000  wounded  have  come  into 
Constantinople  alone,  and  we  know  the  prov- 
inces are  full  of  them,  from  Kirk  Kilisse  to 
Konia.  One  of  the  wounded  who  arrived  this 
morning  said  it  was  useless  denying  the  Allies' 
advance.  The  servants,  who  are  Greeks  and 
Armenians,  heard  this  and  are  jubilant. 

At  the  hospitals  they  distributed  postcards 
to  the  wounded  with  the  portraits  of  the 
Sultan  and  Enver.  But  while  very  pleased 
with  the  first  the  Enver  card  met  with  a  de- 
cided "  Yok  "  1  from  the  men.  Some  of  the 
cases  one  hears  of  are  disgraceful.  One  soldier 
was  seen  to  treasure  a  wallet,  which  was  found 
to  contain  several  thousand  francs  in  bank- 
notes. His  neighbour  told  the  doctor  that  he 
had  finished  off  a  wounded  French  captain  to 
obtain  it.  Others,  who  showed  what  could 
only  have  been  loot  from  the  dead,  were  asked 
if  they  were  not  afraid  to  be  punished  by  their 
officers.     *'  Oh  no,  our  captain  did  exactly  the 

1  Turkish  for  "  No." 


NEWS  FROM  BAGDAD  145 

same,"  was  the  answer.  Apparently  the  main 
reason  why  the  wounded  are  murdered  is  the 
hope  of  pillage;  they  are  stripped  of  every- 
thing. Colonel  M.  tells  me  the  same  was  true 
in  Libya. 

M.  has  returned  from  Bucarest,  afraid,  as 
always,  of  compromising  himself.  But  all  is 
quiet  in  Roumania.  They  will  not  admit  that 
the  Russian  defeat  in  Galicia  had  anything  to 
do  with  their  attitude,  but  lay  this  down  to  the 
difficult  negotiations  at  Petrograd  over  the 
Banat.  They  say  the  crossing  of  the  Carpa- 
thians would  cost  them  100,000  men,  as  the 
passes  have  all  been  strongly  fortified.  Instead 
they  console  themselves  with  daily  battles  of 
flowers  till  the  ostentation  of  lightheartedness 
became  a  national  scandal.  Here  Wangenheim 
had  threatened  L.  w^ith  an  impending  ulti- 
matum unless  they  allow  munitions  to  pass. 
One  hears  tales  from  Roumania  of  negotiations 
at  Berlin  and  Vienna,  for  the  cession  of  a  small 
portion  of  the  Bukowina  and  autonomy  to 
Transylvania  in  return  for  continued  neutrality 
and  the  passage  of  shells. 

June  27. — From  Bagdad  come  reports  of 
the  British  advance  and  Turco-German  con- 
sternation. A  new  military  commander  has 
been  sent  there  since  the  last  one  committed 
suicide,   but   they  have   practically   no   troops 


146  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

nor  supplies  left.  Close  by,  in  the  Nedjef  and 
at  Kerbela,  Turkish  rule  has  been  thrown  off. 
The  fall  of  Bagdad  will  be  the  first  great 
reverse  felt  here,  for  the  memory  of  the  Cali- 
phate still  holds. 

All  along  the  Syrian  coast  the  French  have 
been  bombarding  petroleum  depots  and  German 
consulates.  They  destroyed  one  at  Haifa 
lately  as  a  reprisal  against  the  destruction  by 
the  Germans  of  the  French  graves  on  Mount" 
Carmel.  During  the  bombardment  a  French 
hydroplane  flew  over  the  town;  a  Turkish 
gendarme  fired  on  it,  when  the  aviator  dropped 
a  small  bomb  which,  by  extraordinary  luck, 
fell  pat  on  the  gendarme's  head.  Since  then 
the  Syrians  have  great  respect  for  French 
shooting. 

The  Turks  are  sending  all  belligerent 
subjects  to  Ourfa  as  a  protest  against  these 
bombardments.  It  is  a  wretched  hole,  wanting 
in  the  most  ordinary  commodities.  Leslie, 
one  of  our  missionaries  there,  will  administer 
relief,  for  the  Turks  do  not  bother  to  feed  their 
civilian  prisoners.  As  they  cannot  possibly 
escape  they  let  them  roam  at  will  and  then 
contrast  their  treatment  with  the  confinement 
of  prisoners  in  Europe. 

Again  comes  news  of  hard  fighting  at  the 
Dardanelles,   some  of  it  unbeHevable — 12,000 


DESPERATE  FIGHTING  147 

French  dead  and  3000  wounded  in  a  single 
action.  The  bayonet  is  said  to  account  for 
this  discrepancy  over  usual  proportions,  for 
quarter  is  neither  asked  nor  given.  It  is  said 
that  many  French  single-loaded  rifles  of  an 
ancient  Lefevre  model  have  been  taken.  If 
true,  it  is  wilful  murder  sending  troops  against 
men  armed  with  modern  weapons.  The  allied 
losses  are  mainly  in  attack,  the  Turkish  in 
reserve  when  they  come  under  fire  of  the 
heavy  guns.  There  is  no  sparing  of  muni- 
tions. The  Turks  now  hold  their  forward 
trenches  very  thinly.  As  the  aviators  dropped 
arrows  into  them  they  have  burrowed  under- 
neath. The  line  of  fighting  is  about  800 
yards  from  Krithia,  and  the  trenches  so  close 
together  that  the  Turks  are  now  protected  from 
the  fleet  fire.  The  Turkish  cavalry  is  near 
Boulair,  kept  as  a  mobile  force.  Altogether 
they  have  probably  150,000  men  at  the  Dar- 
danelles, and  the  Allies  not  over  half  the 
number.  Captain  W.  believes  that  without 
landing  elsewhere  the  latter  will  never  break 
through,  and  at  Sofia  they  are  of  the  same 
opinion.  There  they  think  it  must  be  either  at 
Enos  in  sufficient  number  or  on  the  Asiatic 
side,  or  else  aid  must  come  from  them.  The 
harvest  is  now  being  reaped  in  Bulgaria.  We 
may  hear  more  after  it  has  been  gathered. 


148  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

I  called  on  R.  Bey,  where  I  found  the  poet 
Abdul  Hak  Hamid,  also  a  certain  O.  Bey, 
who  had  served  in  the  British  navy.  We 
spoke  of  poetry  as  a  relief  from  politics,  for 
Abdul  Hak,  who  is  the  foremost  Turkish  man 
of  letters,  has  introduced  Western  metres  here. 
His  main  influence  has  been  Victor  Hugo,  for, 
though  he  regards  London  as  a  second  home, 
his  knowledge  of  English  is  not  very  extensive. 
He  spoke  of  the  poetry  of  ''a  well-known 
lord,"  who  turned  out  to  be  Tennyson,  and 
had  also  read  Swinburne,  but  I  doubt  if  his 
understanding  went  much  further. 

In  the  evening  met  L.  at  the  cinema,  who 
confirmed  all  we  have  heard  about  Roumania. 
They  are  busy  now  harvesting  a  record  crop. 
No  one  wants  war,  as  their  five  army  corps 
are  sufficient  to  protect  them  single-handed 
from  an  Austro-German  attack,  and  they  are 
too  weak  to  withstand  a  long  struggle.  In 
their  own  interest  they  have  to  bide  their 
time,  for  any  other  course  would  be  suicide 
and  expose  Moldavia  to  being  ravaged  from 
both  sides.  Leaving  the  theatre  we  found  the 
police  at  the  exit,  allowing  no  one  to  pass 
until  they  had  proved  their  identity.  For- 
tunately we  had  our  police  cards  on  us, 
otherwise  it  would  have  meant  no  little  in- 
convenience.    They    do    this    occasionally    at 


GERMAN  METHODS  149 

public  places  in  order  to  find  deserters  or 
people  without  the  necessary  permits. 

June  28. — The  Germans  have  advertised 
fining  Roubaix  and  Valenciennes  150,000  francs 
each  as  a  reprisal  for  the  destruction  of  their 
consulates  at  Alexandretta  and  Haifa. 

Troops  are  being  sent  from  Syria  to  the 
Caucasus  front,  probably  to  try  and  recapture 
Van,  though  others  say  they  are  to  defend 
Bagdad.  Djemal,  it  is  thought,  will  shortly 
join  them.  A  good  riddance,  for  he  has  made 
himself  hated  by  his  brutality.  From  the 
Dardanelles  come  further  rumours  of  heavy 
fighting  and  German  disquiet.  They  are  said 
to  have  news  of  reverses  which  are  carefully 
hidden.  Leipzig  has  left  for  there,  which  is 
badly  interpreted ;  and  Anghelokori  is  supposed 
to  have  fallen.  But  one  can  hardly  believe 
this  as  it  means  another  landing.  Where  so 
many  wishes  father  the  thought  there  is 
danger  of  letting  judgment  run  away  in  sym- 
pathy, and  at  Galata  they  do  this  daily. 

Mother  C.^  is  still  in  prison  awaiting  trial 
after  weeks  of  confinement.  She  was  indis- 
creet in  receiving  postcards  with  secret  writing, 
but  her  friends  say  it  was  only  family  news. 
The  Germans  could  have  obtained  her  release 
at  any  time,  but  as  she  is  an  Alsatian  with 

1  A  French  nun. 


150  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

strong  French  sympathies,  they  refused  to 
intervene.  I  hear  she  is  to  be  given  fifteen 
years'  imprisonment,  but  will  be  pardoned 
immediately.  Mrs.  M.  is  personally  pleading 
her  cause  with  Enver. 

June  29. — Word  has  come  of  Colonel  von 
Leipzig's  death  at  the  station  of  Uzum  Kupru. 
He  had  just  returned  from  the  Dardanelles,  and, 
while  washing,  flung  his  belt  into  his  dress- 
suit  case.  The  revolver  in  it  went  off  through 
the  leather,  and  a  bullet  pierced  his  forehead. 
Such  is  the  German  Embassy  story.  There 
are  also  several  other  versions.  I  regret  him, 
for  he  was  the  only  sympathetic  German  here. 
He  was  a  gentleman,  and  a  man  of  ability, 
who,  after  having  had  a  promising  future,  was 
suddenly  brushed  aside.  When  war  broke  out 
he  was  living  in  retirement  at  Munich.  My 
impression  is  that  he  was  against  this  war,  and 
less  confident  of  victory  than  most  Germans. 
He  was  far  less  a  pan-German,  ready  to  admit 
merit  in  others,  and  with  sympathy  for  England. 
He  will  be  a  distinct  loss  to  the  Germans,  for 
he  was  the  link  between  Wangenheim,  Enver, 
and  Liman,  who  is  difficult  to  get  on  with. 

Enver  has  left  for  the  Dardanelles  with  the 
Vice-President  of  the  Chamber,  and  there  are 
rumours  of  dissensions  between  Turks  and 
Germans.     There  have  been  so  many  that  one 


U5I  151 

attaches  slight  importance  to  them.  What- 
ever their  personal  relations  may  be  they  have 
to  hang  together  for  the  present  or  they  will 
hang  apart.  Lunching  at  Colonel  P.'s,  I  met 
General  Vehib  Pasha,  the  brother  of  Essad 
Pasha,  who  commands  at  Ari  Bournu.  He  is 
a  sympathetic  Epirote  and  a  chivalrous  soldier. 
Both  he  and  Colonel  P.  spoke  of  how  Greeks 
and  Turks  fought  each  other  at  Janina 
without  personal  rancour  and  as  humanely 
as  is  possible  in  war.  When  the  Turks  sur- 
rendered after  a  gallant  resistance,  the  officers 
were  allowed  to  go  where  they  liked  on  parole. 
And  Vehib  even  accompanied  the  King  of 
Greece  during  the  second  Balkan  War.  Now 
he  commands  a  newly  formed  corps  at  San 
Stefano.  Like  the  rest  he  professes  certainty 
that  the  Dardanelles  will  never  be  passed. 

The  Commandant  of  the  German  submarine 
U  51  lately  tried  an  attack  on  the  Bay  of 
Mudros,  but  was  stopped  by  the  netting.  He 
turned  back;  but  the  alarm  had  been  given,  and 
at  whatever  speed  he  went,  or  in  whichever 
direction,  he  could  not  give  the  slip  to  the 
English  destroyers  which  followed.  Not  know- 
ing what  to  do,  he  submerged  to  a  great  depth 
and  stayed  there  till  nightfall,  after  which  he 
was  able  to  return  to  the  Dardanelles.  There 
he  found  the  explanation  of  the  mystery.     In 


152  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

backing  out  from  the  boom  he  carried  away 
with  him  some  of  the  network,  and  it  was  this 
trailing  on  the  surface  which  allowed  the 
destroyers  to  keep  on  his  track.  This  is  the 
submarine  which  sunk  both  the  Triumph  and 
the  Majestic.  In  the  first  case,  he  managed  to 
get  under  one  of  the  destroyers  guarding  her, 
and  came  up  suddenly  in  the  wake  to  fire  his 
torpedo.  In  the  second,  as  there  were  eight 
or  ten  destroyers  around  the  ship,  he  chanced 
an  oblique  shot  which  was  successful.  If  the 
U  51  really  did  this,  it  varies  from  the  earlier 
accounts  which  give  the  credit  for  the  torpedo- 
ing to  the  small  submarines,  and  considered 
the  U  51  only  as  a  supply  and  depot  ship. 
But  likely  enough  the  Germans  gave  this  out 
to  mislead  opinion. 

June  30 — Sassoon  Effendi,  deputy  from 
Bagdad,  and  a  distant  relative  of  the  London 
Sassoons,  called  this  morning  before  leaving 
for  Switzerland,  which  has  become  a  new 
Mecca  for  Ottomans.  He  goes  to  be  in  closer 
touch  with  his  family  at  Bagdad,  for  I  imagine 
that  he  anticipates  an  English  occupation 
before  many  days.  The  English  are  now  at 
Kut-el-Amara,  hardly  sixty  miles  in  a  straight 
line,  and  there  appears  to  be  little  or  no 
Turkish  resistance.  They  apparently  have 
the  river  in  their  hands  and  the  tribes  as  their 


THE  TURKISH  SUCCESSION       153 

allies — normally  anti-Turkish,  the  use  of  English 
gold  has  helped  to  win  them  over.  Little  or 
no  news  filters  through,  though  I  did  hear  that 
the  Governor-General,  Suleyman  Nazif,  has 
been  dismissed. 

There  have  lately  been  some  very  stormy 
councils  of  ministers  over  the  question  of 
succession,  in  which  the  Grand  Vizier  displayed 
unwonted  vigour  in  favour  of  the  regular 
order.  Opposition  exists  to  Yussuf  Izeddin  if 
the  present  Sultan  should  die  now,  but  they  will 
hardly  dare  pass  him  over.  Abdul  Hamid, 
tyrant  though  he  was,  appreciated  the  impor- 
tance of  regularity  in  the  succession.  He  once 
spoke  on  the  subject  to  the  then  Bulgarian 
Minister,  who  knew  Turkish  well,  saying  he 
would  have  personally  wished  to  be  followed 
by  his  favourite  son,  Burhan-Eddin,  but  dared 
not  interfere  with  the  custom. ^ 

Hakki  and  Nejmeddin  have  left  for 
Germany  and  Enver  for  the  Dardanelles  with 
Hussein  Djahid.  Report  has  it  that  the  Allies 
have  gained  successes;  but  it  is  difficult  to  know 
anything,  and  the  Germans  deny  this.  The 
official  bulletins  would  still  be  the  same  if  the 

1  The  Turkish  Crown  passes  to  the  eldest  male  member  of 
the  House  of  Othman,  a  relic  of  the  days  when  the  Turks  were 
a  conquering  race  and  it  was  important  for  the  power  not  to  be 
wielded  by  a  child  or  a  regent. 


154  BATTLE  AND  HOPES 

Allies  were  at  San  Stefano.  Oddly  enough 
the  Turkish  communiques  which  appear  at 
Bucarest  differ  from  those  published  here,  in 
occasionally  admitting  that  the  Allies  have 
captured  a  trench.  Here  the  phase  of  being 
"  driven  back  to  their  original  positions  " 
occurs  with  monotonous  regularity. 

One  of  the  German  submarines  of  the  four 
sent  from  Pola  never  arrived.  As  a  German 
aviator  reported  that  the  Agamemnon  lies  sunk 
off  Lemnos  with  only  its  mast  and  funnel  over 
water,  and  they  have  no  record  of  the  action, 
they  attribute  this  to  the  missing  submarine. ^ 
It  now  turns  out  that  both  the  Triumph  and 
the  Majestic  were  torpedoed  by  the  U51, 
on  its  journey  out  before  reaching  the  Darda- 
nelles. The  Germans  are  full  of  admiration  at 
the  nerve  of  the  captain  of  the  E  1 1  now  in  the 
Marmora.  I  cannot  find  out  what  his  exploits 
have  been. 

1  The  dummy  battleship  constructed  at  Lemnos  was  prob- 
ably mistaken  for  the  Agamemnon. 


IV 

JULY 

NEWS  OF  THE  ARMENIAN   MASSACRES 

July  I. — Attended  Leipzig's  funeral  in  the 
garden  of  the  German  Embassy.  The  pastor, 
Count  Luttichau,  made  a  violent  pan-German 
address,  saying  that  the  future  was  theirs,  and 
while  their  adversaries  hired  combatants,  every 
German  was  ready  to  offer  himself  in  sacrifice. 
As  all  the  neutral  diplomatists  were  present, 
his  stress  on  the  superiority  of  German  virtues 
seemed  out  of  place.  I  spoke  of  this  later  to 
Mme  de  W.,  but  she  found  it  natural.  She 
told  me  that  many  Germans  feared  lest  with 
the  growth  of  wealth  and  material  comfort  their 
readiness  for  sacrifice  would  diminish,  but  they 
were  pleased  to  recognize  that  to-day's  patriot- 
ism was  no  less  than  that  of  their  ancestors  a 
century  ago.  If  Leipzig's  death  is  the  result  of 
an  accident  the  oration  seems  strange,  for  it 
was  more  suited  to  a  man  who  had  died  in 
battle.i 

^  Later  information  makes  it  probable  that  Colonel  von 

155 


156       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

I  have  read  the  German  official  White 
Book  about  the  atrocities  committed  by  bar- 
barous Belgian  civilians  on  inoffensive  German 
soldiers.  The  German  Embassy  here  has 
circulated  it  widely.  It  only  confirms  the  Bryce 
report,  and  is  as  maladroit  as  most  German 
official  documents.  It  calmly  mentions  the 
execution  of  eighty  Belgians  at  Andenne  with- 
out indicating  by  what  process  of  even  martial 
law  they  were  found  guilty,  and  admits  elsewhere 
that  women  and  children  may  have  been  killed 
because  of  approaching  too  close  to  the  execu- 
tion squad  when  the  hostages  were  shot  down. 
As  if  to  offset  this,  they  mention  in  the  next 
sentence  that  some  Belgian  women  were  given 
coffee  by  the  humane  German  soldiers! 

L.  dined  here  last  night  and  spoke  once 
more  of  the  failure  of  Ententist  diplomacy  in 
being  unable  after  eleven  months  of  war  to  rec- 
oncile Balkan  interests  and  establish  a  concert. 
Serbia  ought  long  ago  to  have  been  able  to 
square  Bulgaria,  and  all  the  Balkans  should  have 
entered  the  field  with  Italy  instead  of  frittering 
their  efforts  and  nibbling  at  separate  baits.     On 

Leipzig  was  murdered  by  Turks  because  of  the  active  part 
he  had  taken  over  the  negotiations  for  the  cession  of  Ottoman 
territory  to  Bulgaria.  He  was  then  on  the  eve  of  being 
appointed  Minister  to  Sofia,  his  "  agrement  "  having  already 
been  granted.  The  plan  of  the  assassins  was  to  kill  Marshal 
von  der  Goltz  as  well,  but  Leipzig  was  then  the  only  victim. 


AMERICAN  RED  CROSS  157 

the  other  hand,  German  diplomacy  might  have 
been  more  successful  if  it  had  not  waited  so 
long.  Half  the  concessions  eventually  offered 
by  Austria  to  Italy  would  have  kept  her 
definitely  neutral  if  made  in  time  last  August, 
and  the  same  is  true  of  Roumania.  To-day  they 
are  tinkering  too  late  with  bits  of  the  Buko- 
wina  and  a  separate  status  for  Transylvania. 
While  Bucarest  is  quiet  enough  just  now,  the 
army  is  being  prepared,  and  the  first  glimpse 
of  Russian  success  will  be  followed  by  a  new 
ferment.  The  talk  is  still  for  war,  and  he 
believes  that  sooner  or  later  it  must  come. 
Here  the  Germans  have  persuaded  the  Turks 
to  abandon  the  right  bank  of  the  Maritza  and 
give  the  Bulgarians  through  railway  connection 
in  their  own  territory  to  Dedeagatch. 

July  2. — I  visited  the  American  Red  Cross 
Unit  at  Tash  Kishlar,  where  over  400  wounded 
are  cared  for  out  of  the  2000  there.  The  men 
are  now^  well  looked  after  in  the  hospitals,  but 
arrive  occasionally  with  festered  wounds  over- 
run with  vermin.  These  are  mostly  from 
shrapnel,  and  the  soldiers  say  they  can  do 
nothing  against  the  great  guns.  Except  for 
these  some  of  them  boast  they  could  drive  the 
Allies  away  with  sticks!  Their  moral  differs, 
however,  considerably.  Some  are  glad  enough 
to  return,  but  others  funk  it,  and  there  have 


158       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

been  not  a  few  cases  of  self-mutilation.  At 
the  Dardanelles  the  true  situation  remains  a 
mystery,  and  probably  not  two  dozen  men  in 
town  know  it.  But  at  Stamboul  reports  of  the 
Allied  advance  are  circulated.  The  Germans 
and  Turks  keep  saying  they  can  drive  them 
into  the  sea  when  they  like,  but  why  they  have 
refrained  from  doing  so  is  not  clear.  Outside 
the  Government  spheres,  which  remain  inscru- 
table, the  Turks  are  anxious.  The  report  has 
come  that  Bagdad  has  fallen,  which  would  not 
be  surprising.  It  will  be  their  first  great  blow 
here. 

July  3. — Rumours  continue  to  circulate 
that  Leipzig's  death  was  less  accidental  than 
given  out.  Two  other  German  officers  were 
buried  at  the  same  time  with  him  in  the 
German  Embassy  garden  at  Therapia.  If 
assassinated,  the  funeral  oration  in  which  he 
was  referred  to  as  offering  his  life  for  the 
Fatherland  would  be  more  comxprehensible. 
There  are  abundant  reports  of  friction  between 
Turks  and  Germans. 

Leipzig  himself  had  been  exceptionlly  use- 
ful in  Bulgaria.  He  is  supposed  to  have  had 
to  do  with  the  Bulgarian  comitadjis  when  they 
attacked  the  Serbs  at  Valandovo  to  provoke 
hostilities,  and  also  with  the  passage  of 
munitions.     Yet   the   Roumanians  swear   that 


PERSECUTION  OF  ARMENIANS     159 

nothing  passes  their  way,  and  lay  stress  on 
the  seriousness  of  their  inspection.  Only  lately 
they  found  that  empty  freight  cars  sent  here 
had  false  bottoms.  On  another  occasion  they 
discovered  shells  in  blocks  of  concrete.  The 
free  transit  granted  German  diplomatic  carriers 
is  now  severely  watched  because  of  similar 
abuses.  The  German  Minister  at  Bucarest 
had  impudence  enough  to  ask  for  the  custom's 
franchise  for  a  supposed  circus  which  proved 
to  be  nothing  less  than  munitions.  L.  believes 
that  the  shortage  of  shells  here  is  very  serious, 
and  if  the  German  successes  continue  in  Galicia 
they  will  try  to  intimidate  Roumania  or  else 
force  their  way  through  Serbia.  Meanwhile 
the  negotiations  with  Bulgaria  are  said  to  be 
progressing,  though  I  cannot  believe  that  at 
Sofia  they  will  remain  content  with  only  the 
right  bank  of  the  Maritza. 

From  the  interior  come  revolting  tales  of 
cruelty.  An  Armenian  conspiracy  has  afforded 
the  pretext  for  outrageous  persecution.  At 
Diabekr  the  Archimandrate  died  under  torture, 
and  there  have  been  many  similar  instances. 
Confiscation  under  guise  of  requisition  followed 
by  wholesale  expulsions  are  now  daily  occur- 
rences. In  Armenia  the  situation  is  worse  than 
it  has  ever  been,  and  the  lives  of  our  own 
missionaries  are  no  longer  safe. 


i6o       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

Enver  has  returned  from  the  Dardanelles, 
cheerful  as  always.  He  says  they  are  impreg- 
nable, no  matter  how  many  troops  are  sent. 

July  4. — Dr.  C,  a  Civil  War  veteran,  has 
just  come  up  from  Tarsus  on  behalf  of  his 
Armenian  flock.  The  entire  population  there 
is  to  be  expelled  to  Deyr  on  the  Euphrates, 
in  spite  of  the  sympathy  which  their  Moslem 
neighbours  and  even  the  better  Turkish  officials 
entertain  for  them.  Dr.  C.  wants  to  go  with 
them  when  they  go.  He  has  lately  wit- 
nessed the  wholesale  expulsions  which  have 
taken  place — in  one  recent  instance  fifteen 
babies  were  born  and  then  abandoned  by  the 
roadside  to  be  picked  up  by  a  kind-hearted 
German  woman  missionary.  But  in  most  in- 
stances the  German  consuls  have  refused  their 
assistance  in  mitigating  this  persecution  of 
Armenians.  They  themselves  have  been  will- 
ing enough,  but  had  received  instructions  not 
to  interfere  in  this  from  their  Embassy.  The 
Germans  explain  that,  being  allies  in  a  life- 
and-death  struggle,  they  cannot  preach  to  the 
Turks.  But  inwardly  many  are  not  sorry  to 
see  their  only  possible  rivals  in  trade  destroyed. 
For  the  Turk,  if  he  cannot  turn  to  the  Armenian 
and  Greek,  must  address  himself  to  them.  Just 
now  the  lot  of  the  Armenian  is  especially  sad, 
though  Talaat  has  promised  betterment.     They 


MILITARY  SERVICE  UNPOPULAR     i6i 

arc  taking  it  out  on  peaceful  peopl^,  because  of 
Armenian  volunteers  with  the  Russian  armies 
at  Van,  and  in  the  Caucasus.  Only  a  few- 
months  ago  Enver  threatened  the  Patriarch 
that  if  there  should  be  an  Armenian  rising 
during  this  war,  he  would  destroy  the  entire 
people,  and  the  recent  policy  of  removing 
populations  from  their  homes  and  scattering 
them  penniless  among  hostile  Moslem  commu- 
nities aims  at  nothing  else. 

Dr.  C.  told  me  that  in  Cilicia  alone  100,000 
men  have  been  drafted  for  the  army  and 
sent  here.  His  own  train  was  packed  with 
recruits.  Many  were  in  tears,  for  they  regard 
the  Dardanelles  as  a  death  sentence,  and  are 
in  terror  of  the  heavy  guns.  At  every  station 
some  would  desert,  and  the  train  would  be 
delayed  until  these  could  be  rounded.  From 
all  over  the  Empire  men  are  being  sent  here. 
The  constabulary  one  used  to  see  in  the  streets 
have  nearly  all  gone  to  the  front,  and  are 
replaced  by  a  home  guard  of  aged  men  in  cor- 
duroy uniforms.  More  and  more  wounded  are 
continually  arriving. 

Word  has  come  about  the  treatment  of  the 
civilian  prisoners  at  Ourfa.  The  English  are 
all  interned  in  an  old  Armenian  monastery 
without  running  water.  The  French  are  better 
off  in  that  respect,   though  their  quarters  are 


i62       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

small.  But  both  are  pretty  wretched  In  that 
tropical  heat.  The  Embassy  is  trying  to  obtain 
consular  standing  for  the  one  American  mis- 
sionary In  the  place,  and  he  may  do  something 
to  relieve  their  lot.  But  the  Turks  do  not  feed 
them,  and  their  own  allowances  are  not  enough. 
Under  the  Turkish  system,  if  they  cannot  pay 
for  their  transportation  and  that  of  their  guards, 
they  are  obliged  to  trudge  the  whole  way  on 
foot.  In  the  last  few  months  there  have  been 
many  such  instances.  Things  are  a  little  better 
now,  and  the  relief  money  pays  for  their  con- 
veyance. This  was  especially  necessary  at 
Ourfa,  where  the  last  eight  hours  are  by  carriage. 
The  charges  for  this  amounted  to  a  couple  of 
pounds  apiece,  one  man  having  the  monopoly 
given  him  by  the  officials. 

July  5. — An  engineer  who  has  just  returned 
from  the  interior  related  to  me  his  experiences 
in  the  region  of  Sivas.  He  had  been  stopping 
with  Turks,  and  all  his  information  came  from 
Turkish  sources.  Of  popular  hatred  or  fanati- 
cism against  Armenians  he  had  seen  not  the 
slightest  trace.  The  two  races  lived  on  the 
best  of  terms.  Yet  everywhere  he  came  across 
a  concerted  movement  directed  from  here  and 
executed  through  the  provisional  authorities  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  dregs  of  the  population 
who  had  been  armed  as  a  so-called  constabulary. 


PERSECUTION  OF  ARMENIANS    163 

The  persistent  efforts  to  instil  hatred  might 
eventually  awaken  fanaticism,  to  which  was 
always  added  the  hope  of  pillage.  Up  to  now 
the  better-class  Turks  merely  expressed  their 
disgust  and  their  personal  Inability  to  stop  it. 
Throughout  the  interior  wholesale  arrests  of 
Armenians  had  taken  place,  and  it  was  the 
impression  of  his  Turkish  friends  that  when 
those  arrested  were  led  away  at  night,  It  was 
to  be  butchered  in  solitude.  He  saw  caravans 
of  Armenian  women  and  children  arriving 
from  the  Caucasus  region.  He  did  not  know 
what  fate  awaited  them,  but  Turkish  friends 
told  him  that  they  too  would  be  massacred. 
Personally,  1  in  spite  of  numerous  individual 
murders,  I  find  it  hard  to  believe  in  wholesale 
massacres,  such  as  he  narrated.  The  plot 
seems  rather  to  be  one  which  aims  to  uproot 
every  compact  Armenian  settlement  in  the 
interior,  scatter  the  population,  and  create  con- 
ditions which  must  lead  to  the  death  of  many 
and  to  the  impoverishment  and  misery  of  all. 
The  Armenians  had  been  injudicious  enough 
before  Turkey  entered  the  war  to  express 
sympathy  for  the  Entente.  A  small  minority 
among  them  have  been  revolutionaries.  Others 
have   aided    the    Russians.     But,    as    Is   usual 

*  The  full  extent  and  degree  of  the  horrors  were  not  known 
at  this  time. 


i64       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

here,  punishment  is  visited  on  the  inoffensive. 
The  vast  depots  of  arms  and  bombs  found  in 
Armenian  villages  are  a  myth.  My  engineer 
friend  told  me  he  had  seen  a  photograph  of  the 
captured  weapons,  which  amounted  in  all  to 
sixty-four  rifles  and  a  few  revolvers.  In  some 
few  localities  the  Armenians  have  now  revolted 
to  avoid  massacres.  At  Karahissar  they  have 
seized  the  ancient  stronghold  of  Mithridates 
and  cut  the  road  between  Sivas  and  Erzingian. 
The  Turks  have  been  compelled  to  send  troops 
with  artillery  against  them.  But  all  this  per- 
secution indicates  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
Government.  They  have  seized  the  moment 
when  Europe  is  distracted  by  war.  They  would 
hardly  have  dared  do  so  if  they  felt  less  certain 
of  their  position.  As  if  there  were  not  enough 
calamities  the  whole  countryside  is  ravaged 
with  typhus.  It  is  now  raging  at  Sivas,  and 
from  Erzeroum,  westward  300,000  people  are 
believed  to  have  died  from  it. 

We  lunched  at  the  Italian  Embassy.  All 
this  news  as  to  Italy's  doings  comes  from  the 
Germans,  who  now  report  that  Italy  will  take 
part  in  the  Dardanelles.  The  official  denials 
at  Rome  are  hardly  convincing.  In  Italy  more 
than  anywhere  else  they  feel  opinion  by  alter- 
nating statements  and  denials.  Meanwhile  the 
request  to  assist  the  departure  of  thousands  of 


ARRIVAL  OF  MUNITIONS         165 

Italians  at  Smyrna  seems  rather  symptomatic 
of  imminent  rupture.  The  only  thing  surpris- 
ing is  that  the  Embassy  should  have  been  able 
to  stay  so  long.  M.'s  position  as  military 
attache,  under  the  circumstances,  astonishes  no 
one  more  than  himself. 

Since  the  Galician  campaign,  I  hear  that 
munitions  are  again  coming  down  through 
Roumania.  They  go  as  far  as  Orsova  in 
Hungary.  The  Serbs  having  laid  a  minefield 
in  the  Danube,  the  munitions  have  to  be  un- 
loaded and  conveyed  overland  to  the  nearest 
Roumanian  river  port  only  a  few  miles  away. 
There  they  are  again  loaded  on  lighters  and 
sent  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  notably  to  Baliz, 
where  the  Turks  send  up  to  fetch  them,  for 
Russian  vigilance  is  careless.  A  correspondent 
returning  from  the  Dardanelles  told  me  he  saw 
the  place  full  of  cases  of  German  munitions  all 
marked  for  transit  *^  vid  Roumania."  The 
Bulgarians  swear  that  nothing  passes  their  way, 
and  it  may  be  true,  for  they  do  not  know  if  the 
arms  will  not  be  used  against  them  to-morrow. 

Liman  von  Sanders  has  been  here  secretly. 
Djemal's  wife  has  left  for  Damascus,  where  her 
husband  has  assumed  sovereign  airs. 

July  6. — The  official  bulletin  publishes  a 
success  at  Bassorah,  to  mislead  opinion.  Im- 
possible to  know  if  it  is  true.     The  Turks  are 


i66       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

happy,  whether  because  of  the  Dardanelles,  or 
because  Bulgaria  remains  quiet,  or  because 
Enver  now  believes  that  the  Italian  expedition 
will  be  in  Albania,  one  cannot  say.  Things  so 
far  have  not  gone  badly  for  the  Turks.  They 
have  just  received  eight  new  aeroplanes,  of  which 
they  stood  in  great  need,  and  seventeen  car-loads 
of  petrol ;  but  some  of  this  caught  fire  on  arrival. 
The  local  munitions  factories  at  Macrikeui, 
the  Sweet  Waters,  and  Top  Hane,  work  night 
and  day.  They  keep  4000  men  employed,  and 
burn  300  tons  of  coal  daily.  Coal  still  comes 
from  Soungouldak  in  driblets,  and  the  Russians 
have  not  found  means  to  stop  this;  they  are 
hoping  here  for  the  arrival  of  new  submarines 
to  make  difficult  the  position  of  the  Allies.  At 
Ari  Bournu  the  English  have  now  brought 
up  heavy  artillery,  and  the  Germans  admit  that 
if  they  can  gain  the  heights  the  Turkish  position 
will  be  difficult.  Reports  come  in  of  an  advance 
at  Seddulbahr,  but  lack  confirmation.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  population  so  ardently  want  it 
that  their  imagination  shapes  itself  to  their 
wishes. 

July  7. — A  request  to  remit  a  requisition 
was  lately  presented  Enver,  on  behalf  of  a 
German.  He  refused  it,  saying,  "  We  have 
already  done  enough  for  the  Germans."  Most 
Turks  think  the  same,  though  they  are  proud 


TURKISH  FINANCE  167 

of  their  defence  of  the  Dardanelles  coming  on 
top  of  the  Balkan  War  disasters.  The  hatred 
against  the  Germans  in  the  army  is  said  to  be 
intense,  though  it  would  be  unwise  for  the  Allies 
to  bank  on  it.  Among  the  civil  population 
nearly  every  sympathy  is  on  the  Entente  side. 
A  retired  Turkish  colonel  the  other  day  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  the  Allies  would  soon 
enter  to  put  an  end  to  the  existing  misery. 

For  the  first  time  since  the  war,  the  Govern- 
ment is  paying  the  entire  salary  of  its  officials; 
but  we  are  about  to  enter  the  month  of  Ramazan, 
and  they  need  popularity.  The  money  is,  of 
course,  German.  The  new  bank-notes  have 
arrived,  but  after  promising  that  the  text  of  the 
contract  should  be  printed  in  French,  it  appears 
only  in  Turkish.  They  regret  this  now,  but 
too  late.  The  loan  will  tide  them  over  to 
September,  when  a  new  one  will  be  necessary. 
Meanwhile  they  make  war  economically,  paying 
neither  soldiers  nor  requisitions.  A  million 
pounds  monthly,  they  say,  is  all  they  need  in 
gold.  It  seems  odd  that  Turkey  and  England 
are  the  only  two  countries  where  gold  still 
circulates — the  poorest  and  the  richest.  The 
Debt  Administration  has  managed  to  have 
£T70o,ooo  of  the  gold  pledged  for  the  loan 
in  Berlin,  paid  to  its  credit  at  Berne.  It  tried 
to     have     this     repeated,     but     the     Turkish 


1 68       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

Government  scented  a  rat  and  blocked  the 
affair.  They  prefer  to  keep  gold  here.  Some 
of  it  is  at  Konia,  while  the  Ottoman  Bank  has 
two  millions  in  its  vaults.  Even  without  this 
no  bankrupt  was  ever  lighter-hearted  than  the 
Turk. 

Every  boat  now  sent  down  the  Marmora 
has  on  it  soldiers  with  bombs.  As  the  sub- 
marines have  been  in  the  habit  of  approaching 
close  to  their  prey,  it  was  thought  that  these 
might  be  the  means  of  destroying  them.  Lately 
a  French  submarine  stopped  a  small  steamer 
towing  three  barges.  A  gendarme  aboard 
threw  his  bomb,  which  exploded  without 
damage,  but  the  submarine  promptly  drew  off 
and  sank  the  ships  with  all  aboard  except  the 
engineer,  who  managed  to  escape. 

July  8. — Wangenheim  is  to  be  given  leave 
of  absence.  His  nerves  have  been  a  wreck  for 
some  time,  which  is  not  surprising,  considering 
the  strain  under  which  he  has  lived.  Even 
with  his  own  people  his  task  has  been  very 
difficult,  for  the  German  generals  pay  little 
heed  to  mere  diplomatists.  His  temporary 
successor  here  is  Prince  Hohenlohe  Walden- 
burg.  This  can  hardly  be  agreeable  to  Neu- 
rath,  the  regular  Councillor,  but  is  in  line  with 
former  precedents. 

As  Talaat  has  been  elected  president  of  the 


CLUB  ELECTIONS  169 

Small  Club,  the  Grand  Vizier  found  it  fitting 
his  dignity  to  have  the  same  honour  bestowed 
on  him  by  the  Cercle  d'Orient.  An  unwritten 
gentlemen's  agreement  had  been  reached  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war  by  which  all  bellig- 
erents retired  from  office..  Wangenheim  had 
sent  in  his  resignation,  though  its  acceptance 
was  withheld.  The  Grand  Vizier,  however, 
lately  sent  word  to  ask  if  he  would  have  any 
objection  to  his  presenting  his  own  candidature. 
Wangenheim  could  not  refuse;  but  every  one 
smiles.  The  Club,  however,  has  long  ceased  to 
be  diplomatic  or  even  neutral.  Neurath  and  T. 
were  both  elected  on  the  committee — the  only 
place  where  Germans  and  Austrians  see  each 
other. 

Many  of  the  German  officers  on  the  Goehen 
and  all  those  available  here  have  been  sent 
in  a  hurry  to  the  Dardanelles.  The  rumour 
is  that  it  is  owing  to  friction  with  the  Turks; 
but  it  is  more  likely  due  to  the  violence  of  the 
fighting.  The  Allies  are  said  to  have  made 
good  progress. 

July  9. — Passed  the  day  at  Therapia.  Three 
colliers  steamed  by  from  Soungouldak  to  explain 
the  Breslaii's  absence — with  8000  more  tons  of 
coal.  I  inquired  about  Leipzig's  funeral  in  the 
German  Embassy  garden  and  had  it  confirmed 
that  other  officers  were  buried  the  same  day, 


170      NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

their  coffins  coming  out  by  road.  The  story 
is  about  that  the  man  who  put  Leipzig's  remains 
into  the  coffin  said  they  were  unrecognizable, 
and  if  it  gets  to  the  ears  of  the  authorities  he 
will  have  short  shrift.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  genuineness  of  the  accident  is  attested  by 
many,  and  we  have  even  the  particulars  of 
how  Leipzig  by  mistake  entered  the  ladies' 
waiting-room  at  the  station  to  wash.  Some 
Turkish  women  walked  in  and  were  frightened, 
so  the  station-master  asked  him  to  go  else- 
where. As  he  picked  up  his  belongings  in  a 
hurry  the  revolver  went  off.  The  station- 
master's  wire,  alluding  to  an  ''  attentat  "  which 
had  befallen  a  German  officer,  is  explained 
away  by  his  ignorance  of  French — he  meant 
to  say  "  accident." 

In  the  evening  I  walked  out  with  A.,  but 
could  not  get  far.  On  the  hill  and  on  the 
quay  one  is  stopped  by  the  sentries'  *'  Yassak." 
The  place  is  full  of  soldiers,  with  many  raw 
recruits  from  Anatolia  and  Syria  learning  the 
rudiments  of  drill.  All  day  long  they  marched 
and  counter-marched  before  the  house. 

July  10. — I  passed  the  Breslau  in  the  float- 
ing dock  at  Stenia;  the  Tor  gout  Reis  still  lies 
in  the  Golden  Horn.  She  returned  from  the 
Dardanelles  with  her  turret  dashed  in  and 
other   signs   of   damage   from   recent   fighting. 


SUSPICIONS  171 

There  have  been  severe  battles  lately.  The 
Turks  sent  reinforcements,  which  included  the 
4th  Corps  from  Angora.  A  general  attack  was 
made  which  seems  to  have  failed,  for  there  is 
no  crowing  about  victory.  The  losses  have 
been  enormous,  and  at  the  Tash  Kishlar  hos- 
pital alone  orders  have  come  to  prepare  five 
hundred  new  beds.  As  it  stood  some  days 
ago  a  Turkish  source  estimated  the  loss  at 
125,000  men.  The  Allied  policy  seems  to  be 
to  tire  out  their  resistance  this  w^ay;  but  it  will 
be  slow  work,  for  no  one  cares  less  about  dead 
Turks  than  the  Turks  themselves. 

I  have  become  Wangenheim's  hete  noire. 
He  accuses  me  of  circulating  news  hostile  to 
the  Germans,  and  especially  some  cock-and- 
bull  story  of  a  German  submarine  lair  discovered 
off  the  coast  of  Scotland.  Our  house  is  sup- 
posed to  be  a  gathering  point  of  all  Germany's 
enemies.  He  told  M.  that  he  was  having  me 
watched  day  and  night.  He  kept  track  of  every 
one  who  came  to  see  me,  and  declared  I  was 
likely  to  get  into  serious  trouble.  He  cannot 
forgive  any  one  who  does  not  ingratiate  himself 
at  the  German  Embassy. 

Greeks  as  well  as  Armenians  are  having 
their  share  of  persecution.  All  the  inhabitants 
of  the  islands  of  the  Marmora  have  been  ex- 
pelled  and   sent   homeless   to   wander.     There 


172       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

Is  said  to  have  been  a  massacre  in  a  Greek 
village  near  Broussa,  and  also  cases  of  forcible 
conversion.  Women  have  been  made  to  dance 
naked  for  their  bread  or  else  become  Moslems 
and  enter  harems.  The  tales  must  contain 
some  truth.  The  Turks  will  not  allow  us  to 
bring  relief  to  the  tens  of  thousands  of  home- 
less Armenian  refugees.  No  one  is  permitted 
to  see  them.  No  wonder  stories  of  massacre 
and  cruelty  go  on  Increasing.  The  Govern- 
ment, which  has  planned  and  carried  out  the 
whole  thing,  resents  any  interference  in  w^hat 
it  regards  as  Its  own  domestic  affairs.  M. 
calls  It  wife-beating,  but  It  is  far  more  tragic, 
and  It  Is  Impossible  to  see  what  remedy  can  be 
brought.  Now  that  half  the  world  is  fighting 
the  other  half  is  the  time  of  times  to  do  what 
they  like  here,  and  Armenian  persecution  is  no 
innovation. 

July  II. — A  Swedish  officer  has  returned 
from  the  Dardanelles,  w^hlther  he  had  gone 
under  the  official  cloak  of  a  journalist.  Like 
every  other  military  man  who  has  been  there 
he  was  pledged  to  secrecy  and  very  reticent  In 
consequence.  But  he  was  immensely  impressed 
by  the  organization  and  strength  of  the  defence. 
The  Allies  seemed  to  have  an  impossible  task 
before  them,  or  one  at  least  which  could  only 
succeed    If    they   were   engaged    in    no     other 


THE  DEFENCES  AT  GALLIPOLI     173 

enterprise.     He  affirmed  that  they  had  made  no 
headway  and  were  only  able  to  maintain  them- 
selves by  the  aid  of  the  fleet — which  the  presence 
of  more  submarines  would  make  problematical. 
His  accounts  tallies  with  every  other   I  have 
heard,    but    naturally    reflects    German    head- 
quarters'   inspiration.     Those    who    go    down 
speak  no  Turkish,  and  must  rely  on  German 
officers.     The    defence    is    doubtless    perfectly 
organized,  and  for  the  present,  at  least,  there 
is  no  want  of  munitions.     Wangenheim  affirms 
that  1 1 00  shells  are  now  made  here  daily;  and 
even  if   this  is  exaggerated,   they  have  lately 
received  them  through  Roumania.     One  of  the 
steamers    I    saw   arriving    two   days   ago,    and 
which   I  supposed  was  a  collier,   turns  out  to 
have   brought  in   munitions.     It  was  at  once 
dispatched  to  the  Dardanelles,  along  with  five 
barges,  under   the  escort  of  destroyers.      The 
Russian  vigilance  in  the  Black  Sea  has  been 
careless,  and  time  and  again  ships  are  allowed 
to  pass.     A  great  attack  to  drive  out  the  Allies 
is  said  to  be  under  way  here.     Troops  in  large 
numbers  have  been  rushed  down  to  Gallipoli, 
and  the  ordinary  railway  service  is  suspended 
till  Thursday.     We  shall  anxiously  await  news, 
or,  rather,  its  lack  will  be  the  best  sign. 

Wounded   are   still   coming   in.     There   are 
fifty- two   regular   military   hospitals   here   and 


174       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

seven  of  the  Red  Crescent.  The  latter  are 
attended  by  Turkish  ladies,  who  find  in  the 
work  an  opportunity  for  emancipation.  Some 
of  the  Turkish  ladies  are  the  first  to  turn  their 
patriotism  into  a  desire  to  see  men.  They 
complain  there  are  too  many  privates  and  not 
enough  ofHcers  among  the  wounded.  Turkish 
matrons  employed  at  the  hospitals  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  pilfering  the  delicacies. 
Tea  and  sweetmeats  were  stolen  till  the  soldiers 
informed  charitably  disposed  people  that  there 
was  no  use  bringing  them.  The  example 
comes  from  higher  up.  The  Ottoman  Bank 
had  organized  a  luxurious  ward  of  twenty-four 
beds — two  were  soon  missing,  and  when  in- 
quiries were  made  it  was  found  that  the  chief 
surgeon  had  taken  them  to  his  own  home  for 
his  children. 

The  soldiers  are  so  well  treated  in  the  hos- 
pitals that  many  of  them  are  reluctant  to  return 
to  the  front.  I  hear  of  cases  of  spurious  blind- 
ness. These  are  the  exceptions,  of  course. 
Nearly  always  there  is  docility  and  resignation 
in  the  absence  of  patriotism. 

July  12. — This  morning  at  Therapia  shortly 
after  seven,  we  were  awakened  by  a  loud  ex- 
plosion, which  fairly  shook  the  house,  in  spite 
of  its  marble  foundations.  I  thought  at  first  it 
was  the  beginning  of  a  bombardment,  but  it 


TALAAT  175 

was  not  succeeded  by  others,  so  it  seemed  more 
likely  a  mine.  I  thought  at  once  of  the  Goehen 
and  Breslaii  at  Stenia,  and  drove  by  them  on  the 
way  to  town,  but  nothing  had  happened  there, 
and  I  suppose  it  must  have  come  from  the 
Black  Sea. 

The  main  interest  now  lies  in  the  Armenian 
persecution,  which  is  assuming  unprecedented 
proportions.  Talaat  is  its  main  instigator  in 
a  Cabinet  which  he  controls.  Power  has 
brought  out  cruelty  in  this  son  of  a  gipsy. 
His  lack  of  education  and  real  ignorance  are 
concealed  under  a  cloak  of  cynicism,  and  he  has 
fine  Oriental  contempt  for  those  who  seek  to 
propitiate  him.  An  apparent  bonhomie  and  a 
certain  willingness  to  oblige  in  personal  matters 
give  him  popularity.  He  was  different  six 
years  ago,  when  I  used  to  see  him  daily  after 
the  Adana  massacre;  he  had  a  seemingly  en- 
gaging frankness,  which  contrasted  favourably 
with  the  shiftiness  of  Hamidian  officials.  He 
then  told  me  that  he  wished  to  see  the  Governor 
of  Adana  hanged  for  allowing  the  murder  of 
20,000  people,  and  praised  the  English  Consul, 
Doughty  Wylie,  who  was  wounded  in  trying 
to  check  it.  Now  he  himself  fosters  the  same 
thing.  All  his  loyalty  is  to  his  organization, 
and  his  policy  is  ruthless  Turkification,  which 
will  later  be  turned  against  the  Germans,  but 


176      NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

has  now  fastened  on  the  Armenian  as  a  victim. 
He  declares  openly  that  the  persecution  is 
revenge  for  the  defeat  at  Sarakymish,  the 
Turkish  expulsion  from  Azerbaidjan,  and  the 
occupation  of  Van,  all  of  which  he  lays  at 
the  Armenian  door.  The  Committee  of  Union 
and  Progress  fear  the  Armenian  organization. 
Added  to  this  is  the  conviction  that  they 
cannot  assimilate,  and  must  therefore  crush 
them,  and  that  the  present  is  the  most  season- 
able moment,  which  will  never  again  recur, 
and  one  has  a  series  of  conditions  which  entail 
the  usual  reactions  of  brutality  and  cruelty. 
The  Germans,  to  their  eternal  disgrace,  will 
not  lift  a  finger  to  save  the  Armenians.  Their 
callousness  is  disgusting,  but  one's  indignation 
rises  in  vain.  The  German  Embassy  is  ready 
enough  to  make  paper  declarations  for  purposes 
of  record,  but  with  no  idea  of  their  utility.  The 
Entente  can  do  nothing.  Whatever  is  possible 
can  only  come  through  us;  but  it  is  little,  for  the 
Turks  will  yield  at  nothing  save  force.  Reports 
from  the  interior  are  incredible.  At  Trebizond  an 
Armenian  population  of  ten  thousand  souls  were 
ordered  out  of  their  homes  at  an  hour's  notice, 
forced  to  trudge  two  months  across  the  mountains 
to  some  new  locality  near  the  Euphrates — many 
must  die  on  the  journey,  and  those  who  arrive 
will  become  impoverished  and  half-starved,  if  not 


CHRISTIANS  IN  THE  ARxMY       177 

worse.  From  the  Cilician  coast  comes  similar 
news.  The  Zeitoun  is  already  evacuated,  and 
recolonized  with  Mohadjirs.^  There  is  a  system- 
atic attempt  to  Islamize  and  Turkify  Asia  Minor, 
and  the  Armenians  are  the  main  sufferers. 
Nothing  can  be  done  for  the  poor  wretches. 
The  situation  is  desperate,  and  the  worst  is 
one's  powerlessness  to  change  it. 

July  13. — A  quiet  day  at  Therapia.  The 
soldiers  in  training  have  not  bothered  us,  and 
the  only  thing  noticeable  in  the  harbour  is  a 
large  drag  which  is  busy  removing  the  buoys. 
They  have  been  doing  this  for  weeks  all  along 
the  Bosphorus.  We  tried  fishing  at  four  in  the 
morning,  but  without  success.  Our  fisherman, 
a  Greek  almost  forty-five,  has  to  leave  for 
military  duty  in  a  few  days'  time.  Service 
means  ruin  to  an  entire  population.  Between 
requisitions  and  military  duty  indiscriminately 
applied,  few  have  anything  left.  The  Christians 
are  mainly  employed  in  labour  regiments — I 
saw  several  hundreds  of  them  breaking  stones 
on  the  road  yesterday,  and  hear  it  is  the  same 
all  over  the  country.  Naturally  many  desert, 
and  still  more  would  had  they  the  chance. 

Our  only  neighbours  are  two  Egyptians, 
I.  and  Y.  Pashas,  both  married  to  Egyptian 
princesses,   and   both   Parisianized,    though   Y. 

^  Moslem  emigrants. 


178       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

adds  to  this  an  English  love  of  sport.  Both 
seem  miserable  here.  They  could  not  return 
to  Egypt,  and  have  to  remain  practically  penni- 
less. The  Grand  Vizier,  being  an  Egyptian, 
looks  out  for  his  friends,  and  in  spite  of  the 
general  poverty  has  had  a  goodish  sum  set 
aside  for  their  benefit.  The  daughter  of  the 
Khedive  Ismail,  who  lives  in  a  palace  on  the 
Bosphorus,  and  has  normally  an  income  of 
£80,000,  is  now  reduced  to  a  monthly  allowance 
of  £T6oo,  on  which  she  supports  a  retinue  of 
ninety  servants.  When  she  consulted  Prof. 
Israel,  who  is  still  here  in  attendance  on  the 
Sultan,  having  no  money  to  offer,  she  gave  him 
jewels  to  the  value  of  £Ti500. 

The  Egyptians,  who  take  their  cue  from  the 
Grand  Vizier,  have  to  be  very  chauvinistic  in 
their  Turkishness,  and  put  on  an  Islamic  fagade. 
The  Grand  Vizier  parades  this  with  a  fanaticism 
in  which  he  can  hardly  believe.  He  hates 
Greeks  and  Armenians,  though  making  an  ex- 
ception for  Mavroyeni  Bey  and  Abram  Pasha. 
His  brother,  Prince  Ibrahim,  Is  even  worse, 
and  in  an  excess  of  piety  Interrupts  a  conversa- 
tion to  perform  his  "  nahmaz."  Our  Egyptian 
friends  who  wish  to  keep  their  properties  in 
Egypt  and  their  sympathies  here,  havei  rather 
a  difficult  job.  They  form  a  little  clan  apart, 
whose  contact  with  the  Government  is  almost 


THE  GRAND  VIZIER  179 

exclusively  through  Prince  Said  Halim.  The 
latter's  importance  is  as  a  figurehead  for  the 
Committee,  but  in  questions  of  etiquette  he 
rules  supreme,  and  instils  in  his  friends  a 
healthy  fear  which  makes  them  reluctant  to 
act  otherwise  than  as  his  shadows.  It  requires 
the  rough  force  of  a  Talaat  to  show  his  real 
opinion  of  the  Grand  Vizier's  worth.  The 
latter  is  rarely  consulted  by  those  in  power, 
and  hardly  knows  what  goes  on.  He  remains 
an  Asiatic  prince  greatly  imbued  with  his 
own  dignity  and  mainly  concerned  in  questions 
revolving  around  it.  In  his  own  home  he  casts 
aside  Western  dress  and  receives  in  Oriental 
robes.  His  knowledge  of  English  and  French 
have  not  given  him  any  love  for  the  West.  He 
is  frankly  reactionary  and  fanatical.  His  one 
touch  of  the  Occident  is  poker. 

July  15. — Yesterday  all  was  quiet.  To-day 
as  well  there  is  little  news  here.  The  last 
troops  of  the  first  line  have  gone  to  the 
Dardanelles — five  divisions  in  all  left  here 
either  to  make  good  the  losses  or  prepare  an 
offensive.  There  are  reports  of  fierce  fighting, 
and  of  the  Allies'  advance.  More  wounded  have 
come  in,  conveyed  in  barges  packed  like  sardines, 
while  the  heat  is  torrid.  The  British  aviators 
are  said  to  have  destroyed  six  aeroplanes  in 
the  hangar  at  Chanak,  but  more  are  coming, 


i8o       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

and  both  Roumania  and  Bulgaria  have  opened 
their  gates  since  the  Russian  disaster  in  Galicia. 
They  are  now  awaiting  the  arrival  of  big 
howitzers  from  there,  but  another  turn  of  the 
wheel  may  make  Balkan  States  shut  the  door 
again.  Some  prisoners  have  been  taken.  The 
Turks  abandoned  a  trench  rather  hastily,  and 
when  the  English  occupied  it  poured  in  fire  from 
hidden  batteries.  A  few  English  who  did  not 
scamper  away  crawled  into  a  dug-out,  where, 
after  two  days,  the  Turks  captured  them;  but 
these  are  the  exceptions,  and  most  of  the  miss- 
ing about  whom  inquiries  are  made  will  never 
be  found.  The  few  Australian  wounded 
prisoners  in  the  hospitals  here  are  extraor- 
dinarily confident  about  the  final  upshot,  but, 
like  our  own  soldiers,  disposed  to  criticize  their 
officers. 

Wangenheim  has  complained  once  more 
about  my  circulating  news  detrimental  to  the 
Germans.  I  am  accused  of  being  an  agent 
of  the  Entente,  employed  to  undermine  con- 
fidence in  the  Germans.  It  is  his  usual  method 
here,  which  before  he  used  against  the  English 
— their  moderating  advice  was  interpreted  as 
weakness  and  fear. 

Hakki  is  now  spoken  of  for  Ambassador  at 
Berlin;  Mahmoud  Moukhtar  having  supposedly 
made  himself  personally  objectionable  to   the 


CONSTRUCTING  A  BARRAGE     i8i 

Emperor  by  his  dislike  of  Enver.  The  truth 
is  that  each  has  been  jealous  of  the  other,  and 
Enver,  who  is  now  in  the  saddle,  has  seized 
this  occasion  to  be  rid  of  a  possible  rival. 

July  1 6.— The  troops  have  left  Therapla 
for  the  Black  Sea,  where  they  go  to  relieve 
those  dispatched  to  the  Dardanelles.  Many 
still  remain  at  Yenikeui,  mostly  Arabs,  but 
they  are  so  raw  that  it  will  take  time  before 
they  are  fit  even  to  man  trenches.  We  passed 
them  in  the  evening  carrying  their  pilafT  in 
japanned  iron  wash-basins — our  dogs  would 
hardly  eat  it,  but  it  was  their  sole  dinner. 

Yesterday  an  English  submarine  fired  a 
torpedo  at  some  barges  loading  munitions  at 
Top  Hane,  but  missing  these,  it  only  destroyed 
a  few  yards  of  the  wharf.  The  usual  legends 
about  the  sinking  of  vast  steamers  have  been 
circulated  with  no  apparent  foundation,  save 
at  Panderma,  where  they  did  torpedo  a 
Mahsoussie  ship,  the  Biga,  a  few  days  ago. 
I  have  just  heard  the  explanation  of  the  work 
carried  out  in  the  Custom  House.  For  weeks 
past  there  have  been  rumours  of  the  building 
of  a  Zeppelin  or  the  putting  together  of  a 
submarine.  Now  it  turns  out  that  they  have 
constructed  a  barrage  of  network  to  keep  out 
the  submarines  from  the  Dardanelles.  And 
this  explains  the  removal  of  the  buoys  all  along 


i82       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

the  Bosphorus.     They  need  these,  and  especially 
their  chains  to  hold  it  in  place. 

They  are  taking  up  some  of  the  tramway 
lines  both  in  Stamboul  and  at  Nishantash,  and 
a  good  number  of  electric  plants  have  been 
requisitioned  for  a  tramline  at  the  Dardanelles, 
or  on  the  road  from  Uzumkupreu.  The  grand 
attack  is  to  be  delivered  shortly.  Rumour  fixes 
It  for  the  23rd,  the  anniversary  of  the  Con- 
stitution. They  are  awaiting  a  battery  of  the 
famous  30.5  howitzers  from  Austria,  which  they 
say  will  place  the  Allies  at  their  mercy.  So 
much  has  come  through,  it  would  not  be  sur- 
prising if  it  arrives.  Twenty-five  car-loads 
came  the  other  day  through  Bulgaria  along  with 
two  of  Red  Cross  supplies  to  veneer  the  rest  with 
respectability.  Every  German  diplomatic  carrier 
brings  four  or  five  tons  of  stuff  with  him,  till 
even  an  Austrian  official  here  criticized  it  as 
scandalous.  And  yet  they  need  more  and  more, 
and  ransack  every  depot  of  supplies  through  the 
Empire.  The  gunners  from  the  BreslaUy  who 
left  lately  for  the  Dardanelles,  thinking  to  be 
gone  for  two  months,  have  returned  because 
they  had  nothing  to  shoot  with.  The  Allies 
have  everything,  and  the  Turks  nothing,  they 
said.  Yet  confidence  is  kept  up,  and  they  still 
profess  certainty  about  driving  them  into  the 
sea. 


TORTURE  OF  ARMENIANS        183 

July  17. — This  morning,  coming  down  the 
Bosphorus,  I  noticed  that  the  bows  of  some  of 
the  Turkish  destroyers  had  been  painted  white, 
to  simulate  the  splash  of  waves  and  deceive 
the  enemy  about  the  speed  they  travel.  The 
recent  explosions  heard  were  Russian  floating 
mines  which  are  left  to  drift  with  the  current. 
One  of  these  has  been  seen  even  in  the  Mar- 
mora. The  Russian  vigilance  is  a  little  more 
watchful  now,  and  two  days  ago  they  destroyed 
some  colliers  or  oil-boats  near  Riva.  Yet 
12,000  tons  of  coal  are  again  expected  In  a 
day  or  two. 

The  Armenian  situation  is  worse,  if  possible, 
perhaps  because  more  details  reach  us.  From 
Trebizond,  Harput,  and  Ourfa  come  harrowing 
tales  of  misery,  suffering,  and  cruelty;  of  women 
and  children  left  literally  naked  to  die,  and  the 
homeless  fugitive  females  distributed  among 
the  Turkish  population  of  the  villages  through 
which  they  are  compelled  to  trudge.  Of  public 
massacres  in  the  cities  there  are  none  so  far, 
but  the  prisons  are  emptied  from  time  to  time 
of  the  Armenians,  who  have  been  arrested 
wholesale,  and  their  inmates  are  murdered  at 
night.  The  authorities  talk  of  an  accidental 
meeting  with  hostile  Kurds,  which  is  the  official 
euphemism  of  massacre.  There  have  been 
frequent  cases  of  torture  as  well.     The  worst 


i84       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

of  it  is  the  vicious  circle  in  which  the  poor 
wretches  find  themselves.  Everywhere  the 
Armenians  have  been  summoned  to  surrender 
their  arms,  while  the  Moslems  are  allowed  to 
retain  theirs.  If  they  comply  they  fear  cold- 
blooded massacre,  and  if  they  do  not  they  are 
treated  as  rebels.  A  few  have  shown  spirit 
enough  to  revolt.  But  the  vast  majority  are 
helpless,  and  no  aid  can  be  given.  We  are  not 
even  permitted  to  visit  them  for  relief  purposes. 

The  Turks  are  particularly  anxious  to  be 
rid  of  those  Armenians  along  the  Cilician  coast 
lest  they  should  give  aid  to  the  English.  Yet 
the  English  have  done  little  or  nothing  there, 
though  had  they  been  quicker  tkey  could  have 
wrought  havoc  with  the  railway  near  Adana, 
where  it  runs  only  a  few  miles  from  the  coast 
and  passes  over  bridges  and  through  tunnels. 
Even  the  section  near  Alexandretta  was  only 
destroyed  after  the  transport  of  troops  to  Syria 
for  the  Egyptian  campaign  had  been  effected. 
In  Syria  the  Turks  are  now  working  at  a  rail- 
way toward  Suez.  They  have  taken  up  a 
certain  amount  of  material  from  the  Jaffa-Jeru- 
salem line  as  well  as  part  of  the  Hedjaz  rail- 
way, and  are  using  this.  The  purpose  is  evident, 
but  its  realization  seems  remote. 

July  1 8. — Lunched  yesterday  with  I.  Pasha 
in    his    Therapia    cottage.       He    has    a    most 


GERMAN  FORECASTS  185 

excellent  Turkish  cook  unequalled  for  pastry 
and  pilaff.  Like  most  of  the  Egyptians  here,  he 
thinks  of  Paris  duchesses  while  talking  of  Cairo, 
and  regrets  many  of  the  amenities  of  life  he  is 
here  deprived  of.  Privately,  at  least,  he  pro- 
fesses Anglophilism,  and  spoke  with  apprecia- 
tion of  English  rule  in  Egypt,  but  he  resents  the 
arrogance  of  minor  officials  who  treat  Egyptians 
as  ''  natives."  One  young  Egyptian  of  great 
fortune,  married  to  a  princess,  was  lately  black- 
balled by  the  English  at  the  Club  in  Cairo. 
In  revenge  he  has  joined  the  Turkish  army, 
and  was  wounded  at  the  Dardanelles.  All  over 
the  East  there  is  the  same  tale  of  resentment, 
and  I  remember  that  in  the  public  gardens  at 
Shanghai  Chinese  gentlemen  are  not  allowed 
to  enter,  while  any  white  loafer  roams  at  will. 

Weitz  took  me  aside  to  deliver  a  pompous 
exposition  of  the  situation.  He  asked  when  I 
thought  there  would  be  peace,  and  I  replied  per- 
haps in  the  autumn  of  1916.  He  said  it  would 
come  this  November.  The  Russians  were  now 
definitely  crushed.  Hindenburg  had  just  smashed 
their  front  for  a  hundred  kilometres,  and  they 
were  completely  routed.  There  was  nothing 
now  to  prevent  fifteen  army  corps  being  dis- 
patched to  the  Western  front  to  open  the  road 
to  Calais.  Only  England  and  Germany  could 
stand   another  winter  campaign.     For   France 


1 86       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

this  was  impossible,  and  the  French  people 
would  soon  turn  in  anger  to  murder  Poincare 
and  their  Government  for  having  lied  to  them. 
Goppert,  the  German  councillor,  also  took  me 
by  the  arm  to  remind  me  that  I  had  asked  him 
ages  ago  whether  the  Lupkow  Pass  had  been 
recaptured,  and  the  superiority  of  German  arms 
was  once  more  made  to  din  in  my  ears. 

T.,  dining  here,   told  me  that  some  of  his 
relatives   in    the   Austrian    cavalry   were    near 
Libau,  so  they  are  sandwiching  them  far  and 
wide  with  German  troops.     On  the  other  hand, 
his  brother-in-law,  who  is  a  hussar,  is  still  in 
the  trenches  in  Bukowina.     I  asked  him  about 
the  future  of  Poland,  and  he  told  me  he  had 
tried  to  find  this  out,  but  was  unable  to.  Already 
last  autumn  full  arrangements  had  been  made 
between  Vienna  and  Berlin,  but  what  these  are 
he  doesn't  know,  nor  has  he  any  theory  as  to 
the  future  of  Belgium.     He  did  not  think  the 
Germans  would  ever  be  turned  out,  but  they 
would  make  a  grave  error  to  remain  there  and 
govern    a   hostile    population.     Since    the   war 
with  Italy  most  Austrian  diplomatists  not  on 
active  service  have  gone  to  the  front.     Nineteen 
had  left  the  Ballplatz.     Prince  H.  was  one  of 
the  few  who  remained  there. 

The  latest  report  is  that  Italy  will  not  go 
to  war  with  Turkey.     Some  weeks  ago,  when 


THE  BRESLAU  INJURED  187 

orders  were  issued  for  the  recall  of  all  the 
Italian  Consuls,  the  pressure  from  the  Allies 
was  very  strong  to  have  the  Italians  join  the 
Dardanelles  expedition.  The  outlook  was  now 
more  favourable  there,  and  the  Allies  no  longer 
believe  they  will  require  assistance.  All  they 
want,  it  is  thought  here,  is  to  open  the  Straits, 
establish  communications  with  Russia,  and  turn 
out  the  Germans.  This  seems  rather  fishy,  and 
I  hardly  believe  either  in  such  moderation  or 
that  the  Italians  will  not  want  to  have  their 
say.  The  rupture  may  come  sooner  or  later,  but 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  stave  it  off  indefinitely. 

July  19. — Yesterday  at  noon  I  noticed  the 
Breslau  steaming  toward  Stenia  very  slowly 
instead  of  at  her  usual  speed.  To-day,  just  as 
we  left  Therapia,  a  barge  containing  several 
coffins  was  being  towed  to  the  German  Em- 
bassy. At  Stenia  itself  the  Breslau  was  already 
in  dry  dock,  with  only  stem  and  stern  appear- 
ing. And  in  town  I  heard  she  had  been  tor- 
pedoed by  a  French  submarine  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Bosphorus.  There  is  also  a  large  Russian 
submarine  supposedly  commanded  by  British 
officers  in  that  vicinity  which  is  said  to  have 
been  destructive.  Less  is  now  arriving  by  sea. 
In  the  Marmora,  submarines  have  bombarded 
the  railway  near  Ismidt  and  the  powder-works 
at  Macrikeui,  but  with  little  effect.     I  cannot 


1 88       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

understand  why  they  have  tried  nothing  at 
Stenia  itself,  or  against  the  petrol  depots  at 
Chiboukli. 

Wounded  come  in  with  accounts  of  fighting 
at  close  quarters  around  Bairamli.  If  true,  the 
Allies  have  advanced.  But  the  Turks  remain 
confident.  Forty  thousand  men  have  been 
dispatched  as  reinforcements,  and  they  are  con- 
templating the  grand  attack  for  the  23rd.  The 
Heir  Presumptive  and  a  party  of  twenty-five 
poets,  writers,  and  artists  have  gone  down  to 
assist  at  the  prospective  triumph  when  the 
Allies  w^ill  at  last  be  driven  into  the  sea. 

The  press  here  under  German  inspiration 
is  getting  more  and  more  angry  at  the  English. 
The  British  Government  expressed  misgivings 
that  Turkish  hospital  ships  are  transporting 
troops  and  munitions.  The  Hillal  now  comes 
out  with  a  statement  that  for  every  Turk 
drowned  an  Englishman  w^ill  be  hanged,  and 
whatever  be  the  reprisals  the  English  will  not 
have  the  last  say.  We  have  been  served  with 
many  such  threats  of  late,  and  they  are  quite 
capable  of  putting  them  into  practice.  An 
English  aviator  is  also  accused  of  dropping 
bombs  near  a  hospital  at  Ari  Bournu.  If  the 
offence  is  repeated,  woe  betide  Englishmen,  is 
the  warning.  The  Turks  will  not  change  their 
microscopic  red   crescent  flags,   and   insist  on 


HOSPITAL  SHIPS  189 

putting  hospitals  in  all  sorts  of  places  where 
they  should  not  be. 

July  20. — We  have  received  official  word 
from  Enver  about  the  hospital  ships.  After 
denying  that  these  have  ever  been  utilized  for 
the  transport  of  troops,  he  threatens  to  hang  a 
prisoner  of  war  for  every  wounded  Turk  killed. 
He  also  accuses  the  English  of  seeking  to  drive 
him  into  reprisals  in  order  to  charge  the  Turks 
with  cruelty.  In  his  turn  he  accuses  the  Eng- 
lish of  utilizing  their  hospital  ships  to  land 
men.  I  am  told  that  the  Turks  have  been 
fairly  scrupulous  with  their  officially  declared 
hospital  vessels.  The  "  nigger  in  the  wood- 
pile "  lay  in  having  others  unmentioned,  like 
the  Lily  Rickmers,  bearing  distinctive  red 
crescent  signs,  which  w^ere  utilized  indifferently 
for  troops  and  wounded.  Two  of  these  were 
sunk  by  the  submarines  at  Rodosto,  and  doubt- 
less helped  to  establish  the  legend  about  Turkish 
misuse. 1 

The  Breslaii  injuries  are  far  more  serious 
than  first  supposed.  A  deep  rent  was  torn  in 
her  side,  and  the  explosion  of  mine  or  torpedo 
caused    the    death    of    twenty    sailors    in    the 

^  Later  at  the  Dardanelles  a  German  military  surgeon  com- 
plained, at  a  dinner  at  Headquarters,  where  a  neutral  was 
present,  that  the  hospital  ships  brought  down  everything  except 
his  medical  stores.  The  surgeon  was  sent  away  the  follow- 
ing day. 


190       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

engine-room.  The  entire  Greek  population  of 
Stenia,  where  she  lies  alongside  the  Goehen,  is 
being  expelled,  which  is  a  sign  that  something 
has  gone  wrong. 

The  Greek  Metropolitan  of  Pera,  who  left 
ostensibly  for  Mount  Athos,  has  gone  instead 
to  Athens  with  reports  of  conditions  here.  The 
Patriarch  is  said  to  have  first  sent  these  by 
the  Hellenic  Legation,  but  when  they  reached 
Gounaris  he  merely  pigeon-holed  them.  So 
the  Bishop  went  personally,  and  they  say 
that  he  delivered  a  fiery  sermon,  in  which  he 
described  the  critical  condition  of  Christians  in 
Turkey,  the  murders  of  Armenians,  the  whole- 
sale expulsions  of  Greeks  till  the  congregation 
left  the  cathedral  clamouring  for  war.  The 
matter  reached  the  King's  ears,  who  is  supposed 
to  have  sent  for  Gounaris  and  reproached  him 
for  keeping  this  from  him.  But  the  Prime 
Minister  excused  himself  on  the  ground  of  the 
royal  illness.  The  result  is  unknown,  though 
popular  report  among  the  Greeks  speaks  of 
representations  made  to  the  German  Emperor, 
with  which  Wangenheim's  leave  is  associated. 

There  is  an  improbable  story  about  that  the 
reason  why  the  expedition  at  the  Dardanelles 
has  not  been  successful,  was  because  the  plans 
furnished  by  the  Allies  to  Venizelos  were  stolen 
by  certain  officers   at  the   instigation    of  the 


BALKAN  ROYALTIES  191 

Queen,  and  communicated  to  Berlin.  Since 
then  the  Queen's  unpopularity  is  so  great  that 
she  dare  not  show  herself  in  the  streets,  while 
the  King,  to  save  the  dynasty,  has  now  an- 
nounced his  willingness  to  collaborate  with 
Venizelos.  German  royalties  in  the  Balkans 
have  been  of  immense  utility  to  Germany. 
Royal  sympathy,  the  fact  that  both  in  Rou- 
mania  and  Greece  a  number  of  staff  officers 
have  been  educated  in  the  German  army,  and 
an  intelligent  and  lavish  use  of  German  money 
have  so  far  in  Roumania,  Greece,  and  Bulgaria 
restrained  popular  sentiment.  The  efforts  of 
the  Entente  to  enlist  Balkan  support  have  met 
with  no  success,  and  are  interpreted  only  as 
weakness.  At  a  time  like  this,  when  opinion 
is  still  floating  and  has  hardly  crystallized,  a 
permanent  element  like  the  Crown  can  do  much 
toward  restraining  its  expression. 

Munitions  continue  to  come  through,  and 
fifty  thousand  rifle-barrels  are  said  to  have 
arrived  here  this  morning.  Prince  Hohenlohe, 
who  is  the  brother-in-law  of  the  King  of  Rou- 
mania, comes  as  special  Ambassador  in  Wan- 
genheim's  place.  I  met  him  to-day  at  luncheon. 
He  has  a  strong  face,  and  speaks  English  per- 
fectly, but  our  talk  was  on  topics  too  indifferent 
for  an  opinion  to  be  formed. 

General  von  Weber,  who  was  in  command 


192       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

of  the  troops  at  Seddiilbahr,  has  been  recalled, 
it  is  said,  by  Enver  himself,  as  responsible  for 
the  heavy  losses  suffered  in  the  counter-attacks. 
The  Dardanelles  have  acquired  a  sinister  repu- 
tation among  the  Turks,  who  call  it  The  Day 
of  Judgment,  and  I  heard  of  one  battalion 
where  the  men  wept  on  receiving  the  order  to 
go  there.  Weber's  recall  is,  perhaps,  also  a 
sign  of  the  growing  tension  between  Turks  and 
Germans.  At  Ari  Bournu  Vehib  Pasha  has, 
provisionally  at  least,  replaced  his  brother 
Essad.  Although  there  have  been  no  recent 
reports  of  fighting  a  great  number  of  wounded 
have  again  arrived,  and  the  permanent  Turkish 
losses  must  now  be  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
100,000.  Plenty  of  recruits  are  still  pouring 
in  from  the  interior,  but  they  lack  the  ''  cadres,'* 
and,  above  all,  the  officers. 

From  German  sources  come  reports  of  a 
proposed  Italian  Expedition  here.  The  details 
have  all  been  arranged,  it  is  said,  and  the 
general  appointed.  The  Italian  Embassy,  how- 
ever, know  nothing. 

The  famous  U  51  is  now  under  repair  in 
the  Golden  Horn.  It  lately  ran  aground  near 
Silivri.  English  cruisers  are  again  assisting 
the  land  operations  with  less  dread  of  sub- 
marines; their  destroyers  steam  around  them 
continuously.     The   Turks   here   say   that   an 


PRISONERS  IN  HOSPITALS        193 

English  crew  from  a  submarine  lately  boarded 
a  small  "  Shirket "  steamer  and  sailed  calmly 
down  the  Dardanelles  to  join  the  fleet.  The 
Turks,  seeing  their  own  ship  and  flag,  never 
realized  they  were  allowing  their  enemies  to  pass. 

July  22. — A  wire  from  Gifford  asking  if  N.H. 
is  a  prisoner.  I  had  already  made  inquiries  at 
the  War  Office  some  time  ago  without  success. 
In  common  with  nearly  all  the  missing  he  is 
dead.  The  bayonet  work  between  the  trenches 
is  deadly,  and  practically  no  prisoners  have  been 
taken,  for  those  left  wounded  are  murdered. 
We  have  received  innumerable  inquiries,  to  no 
avail.  Once  prisoners  they  are  safe  enough, 
and  the  few  taken  are  even  considerately 
treated  in  the  hospitals.  A  few  English 
wounded  here,  to  whom  delicacies  were  brought, 
offered  to  share  them  with  their  Turkish  bed- 
mates;  the  latter  accepted  the  first  time  out  of 
politeness  and  refused  afterward,  not  to  deprive 
these. 

Many  more  wounded  are  expected.  They 
are  sending  convalescents  far  and  wide,  and 
three  thousand  lately  arrived  at  Konia.  The 
newcomers  speak  of  stern  fighting  around  a 
watercourse  near  Krithia.  The  Allies  lately  have 
stayed  far  more  in  their  trenches  and  left  the 
offensive  to  the  Turks,  and  these  have  suffered 
severely.     Yet  there  are  repeated  rumours  of  a 


194       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

grand  offensive  ever  since  reinforcements  were 
dispatched.  The  Germans  hint  at  impending 
great  events.  But  there  are  rumours,  too,  of 
friction  between  Enver  and_LIman,  and  If 
anything  now  goes  wrong  we  should  hear  more 
of  this. 

The  Breslau  had  a  narrow  escape.  A  large 
rent  was  made  In  her  side  two  feet  below  the 
waterllne  by  a  mine  or  torpedo  which  passed 
through  the  forward  engine  room.  Yet  her 
bulkheads  held  good  and  she  was  able  to  return 
under  her  own  steam.  It  is  creditable  to 
German  construction.  The  same  thing  hap- 
pened twice  to  the  Goehen,  when  she  ran  on 
mines  which  blew  holes  In  her  sides  twenty 
yards  long.  The  Germans  all  said  that  had  it 
been  an  English  ship  she  would  have  sunk  in 
five  minutes,  and  believe  this  vindicates  Tirpltz' 
theory  to  sacrifice  gun  power  for  defensive 
strength.  They  repaired  her  with  reinforced 
cement. 

July  22,. — To-day  is  the  seventh  anniver- 
sary of  the  repromulgation  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  city  Is  beflagged  by  unwilling  shop- 
keepers who  loathe  the  Turks.  We  had  expected 
a  great  victory  at  the  Dardanelles  to  honour 
the  occasion.  But  the  official  communique  is 
silent.  Instead,  the  press  comes  out  with 
grandiloquent    articles    of    the    Turkish    race 


A  CORRUPT  JUDGE  195 

rediscovering  its  martial  inheritance  in  this 
war.  The  heroes  of  Gallipoli,  and  of  the 
Caucasus,  are  called  the  worthy  descendants  of 
Mohammed  the  Conqueror,  of  Selim  the  Grim, 
and  Suleyman  the  Magnificent.  If  by  any 
miracle  the  Turks  come  out  of  this  war  even 
half  intact  there  will  be  a  fearful  revival  of 
Islamic  fanaticism,  which  the  Germans  will  be 
the  next  to  feel — for  the  native  Christians  are 
suffering  keenly  now.  All  the  generous  dreams 
of  equality  which  prevailed  seven  years  ago  have 
long  ago  disappeared,  and  the  free  thought 
fashionable  to  boast  of  then  has  given  way  to 
a  new  bigotry.  The  Germans  regard  the 
future  here  with  no  little  dread.  It  is  said  to 
be  Wangenheim's  opinion  that  the  eventual 
reconciliation  of  Europe  will  be  effected  at  the 
expense  of  Turkey  in  a  kind  of  "  Nachkrieg.'' 
Mother  C,  freshly  released  from  prison  after 
wellnigh  three  months'  confinement,  called  this 
morning  at  the  Embassy.  She  has  the  sweet 
humility  which  nuns  do  not  always  possess.  She 
had  been  condemned  to  fifteen  years*  imprison- 
ment, but  pardoned  by  Imperial  grace,  because 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  court-martial  was  dis- 
covered to  have  fabricated  evidence  in  order  to 
sell  his  decision.  The  alleged  correspondence 
in  secret  writing,  she  swore,  was  all  a  forgery, 
and  every  other  charge  against  her  was  false 


196       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

save  one — namely,  that  though  an  Alsatian  and 
a  German  subject,  her  sympathies  were  French. 
Because  of  this  the  German  Embassy  refused 
to  stir  a  finger,  and  would  have  welcomed  her 
condemnation.  Mrs.  M.  did  her  best,  and 
herself  pleaded  with  Enver.  But  without  the 
judge's  guilt  she  would  have  asked  in  vain. 
Mother  C.  has  to  leave  Turkey  at  once.  I 
asked  her  if  she  was  going  to  France  for  whose 
sake  she  had  suffered.  But  she  told  me  sadly 
she  could  not  because  of  her  German  nationality. 
I  expressed  the  hope  that  she  might  soon  be- 
come French.  "  C'est  le  meilleur  souhait  que 
vous  puissiez  me  faire,"  was  her  answer. 

We  drove  out  to  Therapia  by  Stenia, 
where  the  road  is  to  be  closed  as  soon  as  the 
Christian  population  has  been  expelled.  All 
preparations  were  being  made  for  the  poor 
wretches,  and  we  passed  a  number  of  carts 
removing  household  effects.  Others  were  busy 
preparing  to  take  away  their  chattels  by  water. 
The  Breslau  was  high  in  the  floating  dock,  an 
awning  concealing  the  rent  close  to  the  forward 
funnel  on  the  starboard  side.  Behind  the 
Goeben  I  counted  five  destroyers  and  as  many 
torpedo  boats  completely  hidden  from  view 
from  the  Bosphorus.  The  Stenia  road  will  be 
closed  any  day  now,  so  it  is  doubtless  the  last 
time  I  shall  see  them. 


DRIVING  ALLIES  INTO  THE  SEA    197 

July  24. — Walked  with  Captain  M.  behind 
Therapia.  The  entire  hillside  is  dug  with 
trenches  laid  out  against  enfilade  fire,  and 
behind  these  are  gun  foundations.  All  pre- 
cautions have  been  taken,  and  I  can  understand 
military  men  when  they  say  that  the  Bosphorus 
is  a  harder  nut  even  than  the  Dardanelles. 
Prince  Reuss,  who  was  fresh  from  Gallipoli, 
told  M.  that  the  Germans  use  a  secret  explosive 
for  their  torpedoes  with  another  basis  than  gun- 
cotton,  w^hich  makes  them  far  more  powerful 
than  the  British.  It  is  remarkable  that  they 
hit  to  sink  and  rarely  seem  to  miss.  Humann 
said  to  me  it  was  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world 
to  aim  a  torpedo;  but  British  submarines  have 
not  always  been  successful  in  the  Marmora, 
and  even  when  they  hit  an  old  hulk  like  the 
Stamhoul  she  managed  to  get  away. 

July  25. — Reports  have  come  in  of  the 
great  Turkish  attack  at  the  Dardanelles.  The 
Heir  Presumptive  and  the  poets  and  painters 
were  there  to  assist  at  driving  the  Allies  into 
the  sea,  but  their  inspiration  was  wasted.  The 
attack  began  the  morning  of  the  23rd,  just 
after  midnight,  and  lasted  till  six  o'clock.  The 
hospitals  here  have  orders  now  to  prepare  for 
20,000  wounded,  and  already  150  officers  have 
arrived.  There  are,  of  course,  no  details  and  no 
intimation  in  the  press  of  anything  amiss,  but 


198       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

they  seem  to  have  used  some  of  their  last  troops, 
for  men  in  corduroy  who  were  the  home  guard 
intended  for  local  defence  are  among  the 
wounded.  Some  of  the  Turks  are  beginning 
to  admit  that  the  Allies  may  break  through — 
hitherto  they  regarded  it  impossible.  They 
say  their  defence  has  been  so  brilliant,  that 
there  will  be  no  credit  if  the  latter  should  now 
succeed.  Certainly  the  most  remarkable  success 
of  the  Germans  has  been  their  ability  to  organize 
this  country,  and  galvanize  the  Turkish  corpse. 

July  26. — This  morning  about  three  o'clock 
heavy  firing  was  heard.  Its  reason  remains 
unknown,  though  the  omnipresent  submarine  is 
mentioned.  The  cannon  at  Top  Hane  are  said 
to  have  demolished  a  hotel  in  Stamboul  trying 
to  hit  the  enemy. 

I  lunched  at  the  Italian  Embassy.  They 
are  expecting  early  news  of  a  break,  and  are 
getting  out  their  last  Consuls  from  Smyrna 
and  Trebizond.  Apparently  there  is  foundation 
for  Italian  participation  here,  and  the  Turks 
believe  it  will  take  the  shape  of  a  landing  at 
Enos  in  force — nowhere  else  would  it  be  useful. 

I  heard  from  Sofia  that  the  Bulgars  were  in- 
creasingly under  the  German  thumb  in  allowing 
munitions  of  all  kinds  to  pass.  Only  a  very 
decided  victory  of  the  Entente  could  now  make 
them     change.     The     new     German     military 


SITUATION  AT  GALLIPOLI        199 

attache,  von  Lossow,  who  was  lately  on  the 
Western  front,  says  the  French  nearly  broke 
their  line  at  Arras.  Never  before  had  they 
fought  so  well. 

July  27. — The  first  result  of  the  barrage  at 
the  Dardanelles  has  been  the  destruction  of  a 
French  submarine — luckily  the  crew  are  saved. 
The  Turks  publish  the  capture  without  credit- 
ing it  to  the  net.  A  Turkish  official  denied 
the  recent  attack,  and  told  me  the  reports  of 
the  losses  were  "  des  cochonneries."  He  meant 
these  were  high  enough  already  without  mag- 
nifying the  number — they  admit  over  100,000. 
It  is  odd  how  little  we  can  get  at  the  truth,  and 
how  divided  opinion  is  as  to  whether  the  Allies 
will  break  through.  Sympathy  takes  the  place 
of  judgment,  but  even  some  who,  like  Captain 
M.,  are  sympathetic  with  the  Allies,  doubt  their 
success.  The  fact  that  the  Turks  possess 
superiority  of  numbers  and  position,  and  with 
German  aid,  show  no  signs  of  running  out  of 
munitions,  makes  it  appear  hopeless.  Not 
being  a  military  man  my  judgment  is  valueless, 
but  I  believe  they  will  end  by  breaking  through. 
German  organization  has  accomplished  won- 
ders, but  cannot  lend  heart  to  a  struggle  in 
which  there  is  so  little,  and  I  doubt  if  the 
second  line  troops,  who  are  now  going  down, 
will    oppose    as    stout    a    resistance.     All    the 


200       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

defences  of  the  empire  are  converging  at 
Gallipoli,  and  the  end  may  be  a  long  way  off. 
Drafts  of  men  gathered  in  the  provinces  are 
coming  in  daily  to  be  turned  into  soldiers, 
while  the  search  for  deserters  goes  on.  Here 
in  the  village  of  Therapia  there  are  several. 
They  surrounded  some  houses  yesterday  where 
they  expected  to  find  them,  but  these  had  time 
to  get  away.  The  countryside  is  everywhere 
full  of  men  in  hiding.  A  missionary,  who 
arrived  from  the  interior,  told  me  that  at  every 
station  men  who  had  been  enlisted  would  try 
to  desert,  and  time  would  be  lost  in  looking  for 
them.  Many,  of  course,  have  turned  robbers, 
having  no  other  means  of  support.  Whenever 
acts  of  violence  are  committed  the  authorities 
lay  these  down  to  the  Armenians,  to  excuse 
their  ill-treatment. 

As  a  bit  of  gratuitous  cruelty  the  following 
seems  unsurpassed.  The  homeless  Armenian 
refugees  from  the  Zeltoun  had  taken  their 
cattle  with  them  in  their  wanderings.  But  this 
has  been  requisitioned  at  Konia,  where  many 
find  themselves.  They  can  therefore  neither 
sell  it  nor  slaughter  it  for  their  own  use,  but 
are  obliged  to  feed  the  beasts,  for  which  they 
are  held  responsible,  while  barely  able  to 
keep  themselves  alive.  The  Armenians  are  in 
despair  because  the  Russian  offensive  in  the 


A  DESTRUCTIVE  FIRE  201 

Caucasus  has  come  to  a  standstill.  At  Bagdad 
the  Turks  have  received  reinforcements.  Some 
of  the  Indians  there  have  volunteered  and  are 
being  drilled  by  a  German  officer,  while  others, 
who  received  British  relief,  were  acting,  it  is 
said,  as  Turkish  spies.  The  Vali  Suleyman 
Nazif,  a  good  man,  has  been  dismissed  by  a 
German  military  intrigue.  There  is  plenty  of 
sedition  and  discontent  there  too,  but  the 
military  use  the  strong  hand  to  keep  it  down. 

July  28. — The  fire  of  yesterday  burned 
until  seven  o'clock  this  morning.  At  the 
Roumanian  and  Bulgarian  Legations  they  were 
in  terror  lest  the  flames  should  reach  them,  and 
their  archives  and  valuables  were  sent  elsewhere. 
It  stopped  within  a  few  yards  of  their  rear,  after 
having  burned  some  three  thousand  wooden 
houses  and  ravaged  entire  Turkish  quarters. 
There  was  little  wind,  but  unfortunately  there 
were  neither  firemen  nor  water.  The  water- 
taps  had  never  been  laid  through  that  district 
owing  to  short-sighted  economy,  and  the  regular 
firemen  are  with  the  army.  Liman  did  not 
want  them  and  openly  said  so.  They  were  of 
no  use  to  put  out  fires  provoked  by  grenades, 
for  which  he  needed  sappers.  He  telegraphed 
to  Germany  for  a  battalion  of  these,  who  had 
arrived.  But  the  Constantinople  firemen  were 
sent  to  the  front  with  every  other  available 


202       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

man  here,  and  their  "  redif  "  substitutes  are 
utterly  incompetent.  Otherwise  the  fire  could 
have  been  stopped  much  before.  As  soon  as 
it  threatened  the  house  of  Hueber,  Krupps's 
agent,  who  was  insured  in  three  different  com- 
panies, the  agents  of  the  latter  arranged  for 
the  police  to  blow  up  the  interv^ening  houses. 
There  are  thousands  of  homeless  refugees,  and 
the  Moslems  among  them  are  now  being  quar- 
tered in  the  empty  houses  of  Pera,  wherever 
these  have  been  abandoned  by  their  proprietors. 
The  persecution  of  the  Greeks  is  assuming 
unexpected  proportions.  Only  a  fortnight  ago 
they  were  reassured  and  told  that  the  measures 
taken  against  the  Greek  villages  in  the  Mar- 
mora were  temporary  and  not  comparable  with 
those  against  the  Armenians.  Now  it  looks  as 
if  there  is  to  be  equality  in  suffering,  and  the 
intention  existed  to  uproot  and  destroy  both 
peaceful  communities.  The  poor  Greeks  are 
obliged  to  leave  their  homes,  often  without  any 
notice  compelled  to  march  night  and  day  without 
food  or  water,  and  when  they  cry  for  this,  their 
Turkish  guards  point  to  the  mosque  and  tell 
them  the  highroad  to  the  comforts  of  life  lies 
in  Islam.  Their  cattle,  too,  is  requisitioned, 
and  they  are  obliged  to  nourish  it  when  they 
themselves  starve.  And  by  a  refinement  of 
cruelty  the  Greek  community  here  is  forbidden 


11  IRK  ISM    kl'.SOl'KCI'S 


203 


to  Kivr  tluMii  i(li(  1.  Al  (lie  ralriai  <  lialc  liny 
arc  (I('S|)('ra(('  and  know  nol  wlicic  (o  (uiii,  loi 
the  C.oiinaiis  Cahincl  al  Alliens  s(•(•ln^^  nunc 
inlcK'slcd  in  ihvvarlinK  VcnizcIoM  llian  in  ihc 
vvi'lfaiT  of  ils  nationals  licic,  and  is  said  l<>  have 
suppressed  all  llie  reports  from  Turkey  about 
Greek  [)erseeution. 

July  29. —  I  heard  from  a  fair  source  that 
al  the  Crown  Council  la;. I  week  holh  Linian 
and  ICnver  were  anxiou^^  lo  ha\c  a  e.ran<l  alla(  k 
made  at  Ari  liournu  to  (hive  the  I'aJi.ll.h  inlo 
the  sea,  regardless  of  the  sacrilice  in  nun. 
Talaal  and  ihc  others  opposed  this  l)e(aii;.e  ol 
the  co:.l,  and  could  nol  be  won  ovei".  Only  a 
partial  alla(k  vva;i  made,  whl(  h  Inined  oiil  a 
eomplele  failiu'c.  AIiIioukIi  ihe  lo  sc;;  are  on 
a  less  wholesale  scale,  >'el  six  thousand  wounde(| 
have  already  arrived  here,  h'rom  all  .i<(oimls 
the  ICnglish  have  made  pro^rc-.s  and  an  said  lo 
l)e  In  i)ossessionof  three  lieiKhts,  from  which  they 
inllic  t  daily  loss  on  the  Turks.  Yet  the  latter 
are  anything  but  discouraged.  Whether,  owiuR 
to  Russian  reverses  in  (lalicia,  or  bee  an. e  I  he 
(iermans  have  told  them  that  the  Dardanelles 
are  impre^nJible,  they  are  full  of  cheer. 

The  reinforcements  lately  disi)atched,  in- 
stead of  being  sent  to  Callipoli,  went  to  I'ai(>s, 
where  an  Italian  landing  is  feared.  'I'he  line 
of    the   railway    to    Demolika  is   being   fortilied 


204       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

like  a  second  Dardanelles.  The  Turkish 
strategic  reserve  is  held  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Kashan.  But  though  they  bqast  of  a  million 
men  under  arms,  the  army  cannot  amount  to 
as  many.  One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
may  remain  at  the  Dardanelles,  after  deducting 
losses,  and  seventy  thousand  scattered  in  the 
triangle  of  Smyrna,  Enos,  and  Constantinople, 
was  the  figure  the  Bulgarian  Minister,  who  is 
well  informed,  gave  me  to-day.  Every  indi- 
cation points  to  their  being  hard  up  for  men, 
and  the  wounded  are  sent  back  to  the  front 
before  they  are  completely  cured. 

At  the  Italian  Embassy  they  believe  the 
break  imminent.  There  are  ample  grounds 
for  rupture.  Ever  since  Italy  entered  the  war 
the  Turks  have  done  their  utmost  to  throw 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  Italians  leaving  this 
country.  At  Alexandretta  they  absolutely  for- 
bade it,  and  at  Mersine,  after  first  giving  con- 
sent, as  soon  as  we  sent  the  Des  Moines  to 
embark  these,  the  permission  was  rescinded. 
Garroni  had  addressed  a  kind  of  ultimatum 
over  the  Mersine  incident,  and  it  would  not  be 
surprising  if  the  break  took  place  over  this. 
Sooner  or  later  it  must  come.  Italy  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  Turks,  save  the  ill-treatment 
of  her  subjects. 

July  30. — A  German  submarine  was  passing 


LIMAN  VON  SANDERS  205 

the  Scorpion^  when  one  of  our  junior  officers  took 
a  photograph  of  it  from  the  captain's  deck.  He 
afterward  explained  that  he  did  not  want  people 
to  think  that  he  had  any  reason  to  hide  himself. 
The  next  day  Enver  sent  word  to  ask  the 
Embassy  for  the  film,  and  request  the  Scorpion 
to  move  into  the  Golden  Horn,  alleging  danger 
of  floating  mines.  A  new  law  published  forbids 
photographing  anything  military.  M.  has  suc- 
ceeded in  temporarily  staying  the  removal  of 
the  Scorpion  by  explaining  that  during  the  hot 
weather  he  liked  to  dine  on  board! 

To-day  came  word  from  the  Patriarchate 
that  the  Armenian  Bishop  of  Cesarea  has  been 
sentenced  to  death  for  having  made  a  speech 
some  time  ago  at  Costanza  in  Roumania  about 
the  persecution  of  his  people.  We  sent  a  letter 
soliciting  imperial  clemency,  and  the  sentence 

may  be  stayed. 

Enver  has  just  returned  from  another  visit 
to  the  Dardanelles,  this  time  with  the  Duke  of 
Mecklenburg,  who  is  here  incognito.  There 
has  been  a  great  row  among  the  Germans,  and 
Liman  von  Sanders  had  the  worst  of  it.  He  is 
said  to  be  leaving  for  Berlin,  ostensibly  to  confer 
with  the  General  Staff.  The  change  of  a  Com- 
mander-in-Chief during  the  operations  is  odd,  if 
all  has  gone  as  well  as  they  claim.     His  place  is 

The  American  guard-ship. 


206       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

taken  by  Marshal  Von  derGoltz,  still  hale  in  spite 
of  his  seventy-six  years,  and  looking  more  pro- 
fessorial than  military.  There  are  reports  from 
German  sources  of  a  vigorous  British  offensive, 
and  the  islands  around  the  Dardanelles  are 
said  to  be  gorging  with  men.  We  all  wonder 
where  the  English  army  is,  for  thirty  miles  of 
Flanders  front  ought  not  to  cover  its  useful- 
ness, and  more  may  be  in  this  vicinity  than  we 
suspect. 

Further  disquieting  rumours  have  come  from 
Sofia  too  circumstantial  to  be  without  founda- 
tion. The  old  plan  of  the  Germans  breaking 
through  the  north-easterly  corner  of  Serbia  to 
open  a  passage  through  Bulgaria,  is  said  to  be 
revived.  The  Bulgarians  will  protest  platon- 
ically,  but  as  their  army  will  also  be  engaged 
against  the  Serbians  in  Macedonia,  they  will 
do  nothing,  and  the  Germans  can  thus  send 
much-needed  reinforcements  and  munitions 
there.  It  sounds  like  short-sighted  treachery 
at  Sofia,  but  everything  is  possible  in  these 
days  of  heroism  and  villainy.  Greece  is  to  be 
bought  off  by  the  guarantee  of  her  new  terri- 
tories, and  Serbia  strangled  from  both  sides. 
Sofia  wants  Macedonia  first  and  last,  but  the 
means  adopted  must  prove  dangerous  in  the 
end,  and  the  Turkish  surrender  under  this 
plan  of  Kirk  Kilisse  and  the  railway  line  to 


POSITION  OF  ROUMANIA         207 

Dedeagatch  will  be  inadequate  compensation 
for  the  future  of  Bulgaria  if  a  new  warlike 
Turkey  and  an  enlarged  Austria  are  to  be  her 
near  neighbours. 

German  pressure  in  all  the  Balkan  capitals 
is  now  very  strong,  and  at  Bucarest  has  passed 
from  cajoling  to  intimidation.  The  German 
Embassy's  organ,  the  Ottoman  Lloyd,  publishes 
an  article  to-day  which  states  that  if  the  Rou- 
manians count  on  their  Hohenzollern  dynasty 
to  obtain  advantages  by  mere  neutrality,  they 
are  mistaken.  To  Austria  it  is  indifferent 
whether  she  has  Roumania  as  a  vassal  of 
Russia,  or  Russia  itself,  as  a  neighbour.  The 
Germans  say  openly  that  Roumania  will  not  be 
forgiven  if  she  prolongs  her  neutrality.  Coming 
at  a  time  when  the  new  German  Ambassador 
is  a  brother-in-law  of  the  King  of  Roumania, 
the  view  is  interesting.  At  lunch  to-day  with 
Izzet  Pasha,  the  Austrian  Ambassador  told  me 
he  thought  the  blame  richly  deserved.  Mean- 
while the  Roumanian  Minister  is  the  most 
nervous  of  men.  At  a  party  he  gave  the  other 
day  in  honour  of  Helene,  he  refused  to  invite 
T.  because  he  is  Italian,  although  Frau  von 
W.  begged  him  to.  He  has  not  got  over  his 
fear  last  week,  when  N.,  who  in  company  with 
myself  is  regarded  by  the  Germans  as  an  arch 
enemy,  asked  for  a  seat  in  his  carriage  on  his 


2o8       NEWS  OF  THE  MASSACRES 

return  from  lunch  with  us  at  Therapia,  and 
he  had  to  pass  before  the  entire  German  Em- 
bassy in  sight  of  every  one.  So  many  here 
live  in  terror  of  doing  anything  displeasing  to 
the  Germans. 

A  man  from  Trebizond,  who  arrived  here 
in  a  motor-boat,  tells  me  that  the  Russians 
have  neglected  their  opportunities  in  the  Black 
Sea  region,  although  even  the  Turks  would 
have  welcomed  them.  They  have  confined 
themselves  to  petty  raids  with  champagne 
lunches  on  shore.  From  Russia  itself  the  few 
reports  one  hears  are  not  encouraging. 

July  31. — I  talked  over  the  Bulgarian  situa- 
tion with  X.  Effendi.  He  thought  the  Entente 
m.ade  a  grave  error  in  not  seizing  Salonica  to 
force  Greece  willy  nilly  to  join.  Greek  popular 
sentiment  was  so  overwhelmingly  for  the  Allies 
that  the  present  Government — Germanophile, 
or  rather  anti-Venizelist,  though  it  be — would 
not  dare  do  anything,  and  aid  would  thus  be 
given  Serbia  of  a  nature  Bulgaria  must  respect. 
Greece  could  not  do  otherwise  than  join  if  her 
hands  were  forced.  The  Allies  rightly  had  no 
scruples  in  seizing  the  Greek  islands  as  a 
necessary  base  of  operations.  In  what  way 
would  their  occupation  of  Salonica  be  different? 


V 
AUGUST 

BULGARIA   DECIDES 

Aug.  I. — Discussed  the  Bulgarian-Serbian 
situation  with  Koloucheff,  who  came  to  lunch. 
He  thought  the  military  occupation  by  the 
Allies  of  the  Salonica-Nisch  line  probable,  in 
order  to  exert  pressure  on  Serbia  to  make  the 
necessary  concessions.  Personally  I  believe  it 
would  be  a  master-stroke.  It  would  (i)  force 
the  hand  of  Greece;  (2)  effectively  deter  Bul- 
garia from  attacking  Serbia,  which  in  such 
case  would  mean  attacking  the  Allies;  (3)  facil- 
itate Serbian  concessions,  as  the  Allies  being 
in  possession  of  this  territory  could  guarantee 
its  delivery;  (4)  justify  asking  for  such  conces- 
sions by  the  additional  aid  afforded  Serbia; 
(5)  render  increasingly  difficult  the  possi- 
bility of  the  Central  Powers  forcing  a  passage 
to  Bulgaria  and  Turkey;  (6)  facilitate  an  event- 
ual Serbian  offensive.  Koloucheff  did  not 
believe  that  Bulgaria  would  in  any  case  tolerate 

209 


210  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

the  passage  of  German  troops,  which  was  con- 
trary to  her  interests.  But  he  spoke  in  the 
harshest  terms  of  the  Serbian  Government. 
His  hatred  is  unmeasured,  though  he  agreed 
with  me  that  to  substitute  an  enlarged  Austria 
for  the  present  Serbia  would  not  be  to  his 
country's  interests.  Sooner  or  later  war  was 
inevitable  over  Macedonia  if  it  were  not  ceded 
freely.  In  that  case  Bulgaria,  "  to  pay  its 
debts,"  would  move  against  Turkey.  He 
quoted  General  Savoff,  who  declared  that  in 
twenty-two  days  they  could  be  at  Gallipoli,  and 
in  thirty-one  the  Dardanelles  would  be  open. 
I  asked  him,  if  such  cession  proved  impos- 
sible, would  Bulgaria  begin  war  against  Serbia 
at  this  time.  He  said  *'  No,"  out  of  respect 
for  Russia.  Bulgaria  was  anxious,  moreover, 
he  had  the  effrontery  to  tell  me,  to  create  a 
new  canon  of  morality  in  spite  of  the  example 
set  by  the  great  powers. 

He  confirmed  what  I  had  lately  heard,  of  a 
sudden  halt  in  the  persecution  of  the  Greeks 
here.  German  influence,  which  wants  Athens 
to  maintain  comparative  neutrality,  has  been  at 
work  to  deter  the  Turks  from  further  embitter- 
ing the  situation,  while  a  good  deal  of  personal 
influence  has  also  been  used.  Word  has  now 
been  received  at  the  Patriarchate  that  in  the 
Vilayet  of  Broussa  the  Greeks  expelled  will  be 


LIMAN  REMAINS  211 

allowed  to  return.  The  official  euphemism  to 
explain  this  is  characteristic.  It  states  that  the 
measures  lately  taken  for  the  additional  security 
of  the  Greek  population  {i.e.,  their  expulsion) 
having  been  followed  by  new  dispositions,  which 
will  accomplish  the  same  purpose  in  a  different 
manner,  the  villagers  are  now  authorized  to 
return.  No  one  knows  here  if  the  permission  is 
local  or  general.  For  the  poor  Armenians  there 
is  no  relaxation,  and  reports  of  massacres  come 
in  continually,  while  the  criminal  policy  goes 
unchecked.  Koloucheff  told  me,  however,  that 
the  Bishop  of  Cesarea  would  not  be  executed. 

Aug.  3. — Both  yesterday  and  this  morning 
a  small  dirigible  "  Draken  '*  balloon  rose  from 
the  Beicos  plain  till  it  surmounted  the  Bos- 
phorus.  No  one  knew  it  existed,  and  it  is  a 
recent  importation  from  Germany.  Beyond 
Buyukdere,  and  stretching  across  to  Kavak 
where  the  Bosphorus  is  narrowest,  one  can  see 
the  "  barrage,"  or  rather  the  line  of  buoys 
which  marks  it.  An  open  passage  is  left  close 
to  the  Asiatic  shore.  I  noticed  a  small  steamer, 
after  passing  this,  pursuing  a  zigzag  course 
through  the  minefield. 

The  latest  is  that  Liman  remains  here.  He 
was  recently  requested  to  undertake  a  special 
mission  to  Berlin,  wherupon  he  turned  sharply 
and  asked  if  his  resignation  was  desired.     No 


212  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

one  liked  to  say  it  was,  so  he  is  back  at  the 
Dardanelles.  At  Seddulbahr,  Weber  has  been 
succeeded  by  Vehib  Pasha,  whom  I  met  the 
other  day.  His  brother  Essad  commands  at 
Ari  Bournu,  where  the  English  are  said  to 
have  progressed  in  the  direction  of  Anafarta. 
But  little  serious  news  has  filtered  through. 
Wounded  keep  on  arriving,  some  properly 
looked  after,  others  with  festered  wounds.  But 
Constantinople  can  only  take  about  thirty 
thousand,  and  the  others  are  sent  where  they 
can  be  lodged  or  not  lodged.  Those  on  the 
mend  here,  to  make  room  for  more  serious 
cases,  are  sent  to  Konia  and  Angora  for 
recovery,  when  they  are  not  dispatched  to  the 
front  before  they  are  well. 

The  submarines  have  been  active  again. 
Two  of  the  biggest  ships,  including  the  Halehj 
have  lately  been  sunk  in  the  Marmora,  and  the 
Turks  are  fuming.  The  Embassy  received  more 
protests  from  Enver  about  Allied  inhumanity, 
and  for  a  fourth  time  a  Turkish  hospital  is  said 
to  have  been  bombarded  from  the  air.  He 
declares  that  reprisals  will  now  take  place. 
Tke  crew  of  the  French  submarine  Marriettey 
caught  at  Chanak,  were  clever  enough  to  save 
their  own  lives  and  sink  their  ship  before 
capture.  They  succeeded  in  raising  the  stern 
to  the  water-level,  whence  all  scrambled  out, 


ITALIAN  ULTIMATUM  213 

the  last  man  lifting  the  plug  which  let  in  the 
water. 

They  are  turning  out  officers  here  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  a  week,  which  sounds 
incredible.  The  boys  are  put  through  a  five- 
months'  course,  three  of  which  they  serve  as 
common  soldiers.  But  the  life  is  very  hard, 
and  my  little  friend,  F.  Bey,  could  not  stand  it 
for  long.  Cadets  work  ten  hours  a  day,  and  as 
fast  as  they  complete  their  course  are  dispatched 
to  the  Dardanelles.  Very  few  boys  of  good 
family  here  go  to  the  front,  and  I  only  know 
of  two  who  have  been  killed.  Fuad  Pasha's 
and  Hikmet  Pasha's  sons.  Most  of  the  others 
obtain  safe  jobs. 

Aug  4. — The  Italian  Embassy  has  sent  in 
an  ultimatum,  which  expires  at  four  o'clock 
to-morrow,  demanding  the  immediate  opening 
of  Mersine,  Alexandretta,  Haifa,  and  Jaffa,  and 
the  subsequent  aperture  of  any  port  necessary 
to  permit  the  departure  of  their  subjects.  They 
are  perfectly  right  to  insist,  for  they  have  been 
trifled  with  long  enough.  Though  the  matter 
is  still  a  secret,  every  one  knows  it.  Helene 
goes  with  them  when  they  leave. 

At  lunch  we  met  Weitz,  who  was  full  of 
German  successes  in  Poland,  and  declared  that 
with  the  line  of  the  Narew  and  the  Vistula 
lightly  held,   twenty-five  German  army  corps 


214  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

would  be  dispatched  to  the  Western  front.  He 
is  himself  West  German  enough  to  talk  of 
revolution  after  the  war  if  there  are  no  internal 
reforms  and  to  realize  to  what  extent  the 
Germans  are  hated.  "  We  are  still,"  he  said, 
"  too  young  a  nation.  Others  have  not  yet  had 
reason  to  love  us,  but  they  must  admire  us." 
The  French,  he  remarked,  were  now  fighting 
better,  the  English  less  well  than  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war.  He  spoke  of  the  German 
Embassy  personnel,  and  mentioned  the  im- 
mense services  rendered  by  two  Germans  born 
in  Smyrna — Von  Hass  and  Humann,  who 
possess  a  pliability  rare  in  the  pure  German. 

The  Armenian  deputy,  Zohrab,  whose  arrest 
a  few  weeks  ago  caused  such  sensation,  is  dead. 
The  official  version  is  that  he  died  at  Ourfa  on 
his  way  for  trial  at  Diabekr,but  there  is  naturally 
scepticism.  The  other  deputy,  Vartkes,  who 
accompanied  him,  "  died,"  also  on  the  way,  from 
*^  a  fall  from  his  horse."  The  persecution  of 
Armenians  is  assuming  unprecedented  propor- 
tions, and  it  is  carried  out  with  nauseating 
thoroughness.  The  Armenian  Patriarch  told 
the  Austrian  Ambassador  that  at  one  village, 
after  children  under  ten  had  been  distributed 
among  the  Moslem  population,  all  above  that 
age  were  thrown  into  the  river.  As  some 
knew  how  to  swim,  the  soldiers  were  ordered 


ITALIAN  ULTIMATUM  215 

to  fire  upon  them  till  they  were  exterminated. 
The  persecution  could  never  have  attained 
such  terrible  proportions  had  the  Turks  been 
less  successful. 

Hamilton's  report  of  the  Dardanelles  land- 
ing, which  has  just  reached  here,  makes  sad 
reading.  Last  February  a  small  force  could 
have  seized  and  destroyed  the  fort  at  Seddul- 
bahr,  while  in  April  thousands  of  lives  were  lost 
before  the  landing  was  accomplished.  All 
winter  the  peninsula  was  easy  to  force  by  land, 
but  the  Turks  were  given  the  time  they  wanted 
to  make  it  impregnable.  Even  after  the  first 
landing,  if  troops  and  munitions  had  been 
forthcoming,  Achi  Baba  and  Krithia  could  have 
been  captured.  But  now  they  are  still  fighting 
along  the  same  line  as  in  the  beginning  of 
May.  There  are  rumours  of  a  mutiny  at  San 
Stefano  of  troops  ordered  to  the  Dardanelles. 
All  agree  that  it  is  hell  there. 

Aug.  5. — A  day  of  excitement  over  the 
Italians.  Their  ultimatum  was  to  expire  at 
four  o'clock,  and  at  quarter-past  four  everything 
had  been  arranged  for  T.  to  carry  the  declara- 
tion of  war  to  the  Porte.  We  were  busy  pack- 
ing, for  Helene  would  have  left  with  them. 
G.  and  the  others  were  hoping  that  the  Turks 
would  not  give  in,  but  were  to  be  disappointed, 
for  all  their  demands  about  opening  the  ports 


2i6  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

were  accepted  by  three  o'clock.  I  understand 
that  several  reasons  influenced  the  Turks.  They 
were  not  anxious  for  a  break  just  now  because 
of  the  effect  it  might  produce  on  their  negotia- 
tions with  Bulgaria,  which  they  say  are  almost 
terminated.  The  Turks  are  ready  to  cede  at 
once  the  right  bank  of  the  Maritza  and  Kirk 
Kilisse,  in  return  for  Bulgarian  neutrality  and 
the  passage  of  munitions.  The  hitch  has  come 
over  Adrianople,  which  Enver  makes  a  per- 
sonal matter,  for  he  climbed  to  glory  by 
retaking  it. 

The  second  point  concerns  the  fear  of  an 
immediate  landing  by  the  Italians  either  at 
Enos  or  else  at  Yenikeui,  near  Kum  Kaleh. 
The  Turks  are  now  fortifying  both  points  with 
feverish  haste,  but  require  a  little  more  time 
to  prepare  the  defence  in  order  to  make  them 
into  a  second  Dardanelles.  At  Kum  Kaleh 
an  army  corps  has  been  dispatched  from  Ari 
Bournu.  The  Allies  have  been  dogged  with 
ill-success  by  not  better  timing  their  efforts. 
At  the  Dardanelles  positions  which  could  have 
been  had  for  a  song  before  the  middle  of  March 
have  now  become  inpregnable.  Had  the  Italians 
declared  war  on  Turkey  at  the  same  time  as  on 
Austria,  they  could  have  landed  easily  where 
they  liked.  To-day  it  is  otherwise.  It  is  the 
same    tale   in    the    Persian    Gulf   and   on    the 


PRINCE  BURHANEDDIN  217 

Caucasus  front.  It  has  been  the  same  with 
the  Russians.  If  they  had  sent  a  landing  force 
to  Midia,  the  Turks  could  never  have  resisted 
the  attack  from  both  sides,  and  at  least  there 
would  have  been  one  positive  success  to  register. 
Instead,  the  army  collected  at  Odessa  for  that 
purpose  was  swallowed  up  in  the  Galician 
disaster,  and  with  it  Russian  political  influence 
is  lost  in  the  Balkans.  The  Turks,  of  course, 
take  most  of  the  credit  for  making  possible  the 
fall  of  Warsaw  and  Ivangorod.  The  city  is 
beflagged  once  more,  though  few  rejoice. 

I  have  heard  it  stated  positively,  and  again 
denied,  that  the  French  submarine  Marriette, 
sunk  at  the  Dardanelles,  has  been  refloated, 
and  is  now  in  the  Golden  Horn.  Also  that  a 
Turkish  destroyer,  with  thirty-six  German 
officers  on  board,  was  torpedoed  in  the  Mar- 
mora. One  knows  not  what  to  believe. 
German  officers  are  arriving  continually  here, 
as  well  as  artificers  and  machinists.  At  Galata, 
a  patrol  of  Bavarians  guards  the  streets. 

Aug.  6. — Prince  Burhaneddin  is  having  an 
enjoyable  time  at  Berlin.  He  was  penniless 
here,  and  even  had  to  borrow  money  from 
Enver  to  get  away.  But  at  Berlin  he  found 
himself,  to  his  surprise,  the  guest  of  the  German 
Government,  who  do  things  handsomely.  A 
sumptuous  apartment  and  motor-car  are  at  his 


2i8  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

disposal,  and  the  necessary  funds  advanced 
him.  He  will  return  here  enthusiastically  pro- 
German. 

The  Committee  of  National  Defence  is  now- 
making  money  rapidly  by  its  monopolies  of 
sugar  and  petrol,  etcetera.  Their  declared 
intention  is  to  accumulate  a  capital  which  they 
can  afterward  use  to  get  the  trade  of  the 
country  into  Moslem  hands,  and  remove  it  from 
Armenians  and  Greeks.  How  much  sticks  one 
cannot  say.  Meanwhile  the  measures  against 
the  Armenians  have  already  had  a  deplorable 
financial  effect.  The  Deutsche  Orient  Bank 
has  lost  £750,000  from  the  failures  of  the  poor 
wretches  expelled  and  murdered,  and  if  mas- 
sacres go  on  there  will  be  nothing  left  of  the 
few  remaining  shreds  of  Turkish  credit.  Paris 
and  London  are  closed  to  them,  and  Berlin  will 
drive  far  harder  terms  when  it  has  them  at 
its  mercy.  An  effort  is  being  made  to  induce 
Helfferich,  the  new  Minister  of  Finance,  to  wire 
to  Talaat  about  the  financial  effect  of  the  per- 
secutions. Since  the  Edict  of  Nantes  there 
has  been  nothing  to  compare  with  these.  But 
can  any  one  now  stop  this  madness?  There  is 
talk  of  something  afoot  here  as  soon  as  the 
month  of  Ramazan  is  over.  Doubtless  deporta- 
tions, though  many  believe  massacres.  They 
will  hardly  go  as  far  here,   but  everything  is 


SECRET  TURKISH  PLOTS         219 

now    possible.     A    remarkable    feature    of    the 
East  is  its  ability  to  concoct  in  silence  the  most 
far-reaching  schemes.     It  was  so  in   1908  and 
1909,   when  the  Revolution  and  the  Counter- 
Revolution  in  each  case  burst  over  us  unawares. 
It  has  been  so  with  this  persecution.     Putting 
things  together  now,  one  realizes  how,  after  the 
repulse   of    the   Allies   at   the    Dardanelles   on 
March  18,  the  Committee  believed  the  moment 
opportune    for    carrying    into    execution    their 
ancient    policy    against    the    Armenians.     Ap- 
parent justification  could  now  be  given  to  this 
by  the  exploits  of  Armenian  revolutionaries  in 
the  Caucasus.     At  secret  meetings  held  here, 
they  decided   to  dispatch  emissaries  to  all  the 
provincial    authorities    through    Asia    Minor. 
Telegraphic    orders    were    sent,    accompanied 
by  further  verbal  instructions  which  aimed  at 
a  partial  extermination  and  a  permanent  crip- 
pling of   the  Armenians.     The  different  dates 
at  which  the  measures  were  begun  all  point  to 
their  having  been   received   at  various   times. 
In  certain  instances  they  were  carried  out  more 
brutally  than  at  others;   sometimes  the  military, 
sometimes  the  civilian  authorities  did  what  little 
lay  in  their  discretion  to  mitigate  their  rigour. 
Thus  Djemal  Pasha,  high-handed  and  brutal  as 
he  has  proved  himself,  was  fairly  moderate  to- 
ward the  Armenians.     We  probably  know  as  yet 


220  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

but  a  small  fraction  of  the  crimes  perpetrated. 
It  Is  only  where  American  missionaries  have 
been  present,  or  else  by  chance,  that  one  hears 
of  the  atrocities;  but  the  fragments  of  evidence 
are  convincing  as  to  their  wide-reaching  nature. 
To  what  extent  have  the  Germans  been  re- 
sponsible, and  could  they  have  prevented  them? 
It  seems  Impossible  to  acquit  the  German  Em- 
bassy of  a  heavy  share  of  responsibility.  The 
measures  of  deportation  which  were  undertaken 
against  the  Greeks  last  year  were  under  German 
military  advice.  SImiilar  measures  under  cover 
of  alleged  military  necessity  have  again  pro- 
vided the  leverage  for  the  present  persecution. 
German  officers  are  said  by  the  Turks  to  have 
counselled  the  measures  of  expulsion  for  the 
Christian  population  In  the  Marmora  and  on 
the  Bosphorus,  and  to  have  advised  disarming 
the  Christian  soldiers  and  utilizing  them  for 
manual  labour.  Under  the  pretence  of  not 
wishing  to  interfere  in  the  Internal  affairs  of 
Turkey,  the  Germans  have  sanctioned  In  silence 
every  crime.  To-day,  after  Indignation  has 
everywhere  exploded,  they  are  ready  enough 
to  bombard  the  Porte  with  harmless  notes  and 
memoranda  which  will  later  make  good  reading 
for  their  own  defence.  But  In  the  beginning, 
when  it  lay  In  their  power  to  stop  these 
iniquities,  they  did  nothing,  and  allowed  free 


MORE  GERMANS  ARRIVE        221 

rein  to  be  given  to  all  the  barbarous  forces 
at  work  here  without  raising  their  voice  in 
restraint,  while  their  Consuls  were  forbidden  to 
interfere  in  the  "  internal  affairs  "  of  Turkey. 
Aug.  7. — The  Scorpion  has  been  obliged  to 
enter  the  Golden  Horn  and  anchor  between  the 
two  bridges.  It  will  be  hard  for  the  crew,  who 
are  allowed  little  shore  leave  because  of  their 
quarrels  with  the  Germans.  High  military 
reasons  were  assigned  for  the  order,  but  the 
truth  was  they  were  afraid  lest  our  sailors  signal 
to  English  submarines.  They  are  preparing 
more  nets  and  mines  in  the  Bosphorus.  A  net 
now  stretches  outside  Top  Hane. 

More  Germans  are  daily  arriving,  though 
Enver  had  the  effrontery  to  declare  that  there 
were  only  thirty  German  officers  in  Turkey. 
Weitz  the  other  day  spoke  of  300,  but  there 
are  probably  far  more,  and  several  thousand 
artificers  and  men  sent  by.Krupp  for  munitions. 
They  are  said  to  be  running  short  of  certain  raw 
materials,  and  their  shells  are  being  filled  with 
glass.  From  the  Dardanelles  one  can  get  no 
authentic  news,  and  the  reports  about  Liman  von 
Sanders  are  as  contradictory  as  they  are  precise. 

Our  ships  at  Beirut,  which  are  there  to  take 
away  the  Italians,  will  not  embark  those  of 
military  age  without  the  consent  of  the  Austrian 
Ambassador. 


222  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Aug.  8. — The  Turkish  press  has  come  out 
with  the  report  that  the  Serbs  are  at  last  ready 
to  cede  Macedonia  immediately  to  Bulgaria, 
and  that  Prince  Troubetzkoi  has  arrived  at 
Sofia  to  make  the  definite  offer.  It  hardly 
seems  likely,  but  it  may  mean  that  the  Turkish 
agreement  with  Bulgaria  is  less  advanced  than 
they  would  have  us  believe.  Far  more  secrecy 
than  before  now  surrounds  the  negotiations  with 
the  Entente,  and  there  are  rumours  of  a  revival 
of  the  Balkan  League.  Serbia  itself  is  described 
by  recent  correspondents  as  quite  exhausted, 
living  on  such  aid  as  it  receives  from  the  West. 
Yet  their  land  greed  remains  unquenchable. 
Although  they  do  not  know  if  they  will  be  in 
existence  to-morrow,  they  divert  their  few  forces 
by  an  expedition  to  Durazzo,  while  Montenegro 
sends  one  to  Scutari,  and  talk  glibly  of  their 
next  war  with  Italy  over  Dalmatia.  But  Bul- 
garia makes  it  a  point  that  Serbia  must  obtain 
no  considerable  territorial  accession. 

The  Armenian  deportations  have  begun 
here.  The  cook's  boy,  who  is  Armenian,  was 
in  tears  this  morning  because  sixty  of  his 
nationals  had  been  taken  by  the  police.  Talaat 
declares  the  policy  irrevocable.  He  reproaches 
the  Armenians  with  having  enriched  themselves 
at  their  expense,  with  wishing  to  domineer  them, 
also  seeking  to  create  a  separate  state,  and  siding 


ARMENIAN  PERSECUTIONS       223 

with  their  enemies.  For  all  these  reasons  the 
Government,  availing  themselves  of  conditions 
caused  by  the  war,  had  determined  to  break  up 
every  compact  Armenian  community  in  Asia 
Minor  and  transport  them  to  Zor  and  other 
localities  in  the  desert.  If  Kurds  murdered 
some  on  the  way,  this  could  not  be  helped, 
nor  was  he  responsible  for  the  brutality  of  sub- 
ordinates. Three-quarters  of  the  deportation 
had  already  been  done  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands had  been  removed.  There  might  be 
financial  loss.  The  Turks,  he  admits,  have 
already  lost  a  million  pounds,  and  he  was  ready 
to  put  the  total  loss  at  five  times  that  amount. 
The  Government  would  none  the  less  persist. 
They  had  conquered  this  land  and  wanted  a 
Turkey  for  the  Turks.  In  speaking  of  the 
Armenians  in  Constantinople,  Talaat  said  that 
nothing  would  be  done  against  them  unless 
they  moved,  which  would  entail  the  gravest 
consequences.  All  this  sounds  ominous  for  the 
near  future,  and  the  only  hope  for  the  Arme- 
nians lies  in  Turkish  defeat.  If  they  continue 
successful,  there  will  be  little  left  of  the  race, 
and  massacres  even  here  would  not  be  sur- 
prising. 

The  Italians  are  rather  regretful  that  their 
ultimatum  should  have  been  accepted.  G.  told 
me  yesterday  that  he  did  not  intend  sending 


224  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

any  further  notes  to  the  Porte,  but  at  the  first 
infraction  of  the  agreement  would  declare  war. 
As  there  are  no  existing  means  of  departure 
from  any  of  the  ports  in  question,  the  under- 
standing has  not  yet  been  tested.  In  a  few 
days,  when  our  ships  call  to  embark  the  Italians, 
we  shall  know  definitely. 

At  a  bridge-party  at  the  C.'s  I  asked  a 
native  friend,  who  is  in  touch  with  the  powers 
here,  what  news  there  was  from  the  Dardanelles. 
He  replied  that  I  was  too  much  watched  to 
make  it  advisable  to  speak  to  me  there.  Later 
he  told  me  that  the  English  had  made  another 
landing,  and  in  the  fighting  of  the  last  few 
days  the  Turks  had  lost  25,000  men,  including 
many  prisoners.  I  asked  if  they  were  dis- 
couraged, whereupon  he  shrugged  his  shoulders, 
and  cited  as  typical  that  they  had  just  sent 
40,000  pounds  to  Vienna  to  buy  an  Embassy! 
But  there  are  some  signs.  At  the  Municipal 
Gardens  the  band  received  orders  not  to  play. 
The  village  of  Yenikeui  alone  has  lost  fifty  of 
its  inhabitants,  all  Greeks,  who  were  not  sup- 
posed to  be  in  the  firing  line. 

The  Barharossa  was  sunk  this  morning  by 
a  submarine.  She  had  left  the  Golden  Horn 
only  the  night  before. 

One  comic  incident  of  this  war  concerns 
the  local  firemen.     They  had  all  left  here,  and 


ARAB  SOLDIERS  225 

we  were  under  the  impression  that  they 
were  at  the  Dardanelles.  Instead  they  had 
been  sent  to  Bassorah  and  are  now  prisoners 
at  Bombay. 

There  has  been  more  trouble  w^ith  the  Arab 
soldiers  quartered  on  the  Bosphorus.  They 
were  brought  here  under  the  pretence  that 
the  Prophet's  mantle  had  been  unfurled,  which 
meant  war  against  all  Infidels,  as  opposed  to 
the  Jehad,  which  is  only  against  certain  unbe- 
lievers. When  they  found  this  untrue  there 
was  almost  a  revolt.  The  military  authorities 
promised  to  send  them  back  to  their  homes, 
and  embarked  them  presumably  for  Gallipoli. 
Their  presence  is  not  likely  to  change  matters, 
as  their  discipline  was  particularly  bad. 

Last  night  we  went  to  the  ceremony  of  the 
Leilei  Kader  at  Saint  Sophia.  We  watched 
the  worship  of  thousands,  who  knelt  in  regular 
rows  and  beat  their  heads  against  the  ground. 
The  place  was  wonderfully  illuminated,  as  was 
every  mosque  and  minaret  in  Stamboul.  After- 
ward we  drove  to  the  Conqueror's  mosque, 
where  we  mingled  with  the  worshippers.  But 
there  was  nowhere  any  sign  of  fanaticism,  or 
resentment  at  our  presence,  though  Helena 
and  Mrs.  J.  were  with  cne.  The  Government 
has  tried  its  best  to  stir  the  people  against 
everything  which  is  not  Turkish,  but  has  only 


226  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

succeeded  with  the  so-called  educated  and 
atheistic  Young  Turks! 

Aug.  9. — The  Barharossa  was  sunk  in  the 
Marmora,  and  not  in  the  Dardanelles,  as  officially 
announced.  She  was  convoying  barges  full  of 
munitions,  and  also  two  transports,  when  she 
found  herself  surrounded  by  six  submarines. 
The  transports  were  supposed  to  protect  her, 
but  in  spite  of  their  presence  the  second  torpedo 
proved  effective,  and  she  sank  in  seven  minutes. 
One  of  the  transports  and  a  gunboat  were  also 
sunk,  the  other  ran  aground.  Of  crews  of  700 
only  one-third  were  saved.  The  Grand  Vizier 
has  come  out  with  a  peculiarly  Turkish  tale 
that  immediately  afterward  an  aeroplane  pass- 
ing over  the  submarine  dropped  a  bomb  which 
sank  it.  The  Hamidie  also  has  returned  con- 
siderably damaged,  and  a  gunboat  was  towed 
in  with  a  broken  back,  both  from  the  Black 
Sea  direction,  where  they  had  doubtless  gone 
to  convoy  coal. 

This  morning  I  saw  a  small  submarine 
going  out  on  a  tour  to  reassure  the  population, 
but  the  famous  U  51,  which  sank  the  Triumph 
and  the  Majestic,  is  believed  to  have  been 
torpedoed  at  the  Dardanelles. 

The  English  took  the  Turks  by  surprise  in 
their  landing  the  other  day  at  the  Salt  Lake. 
The  water  was  so  shallow  there  that  no  one 


THE  SUVLA  LANDING  227 

believed  they  could  approach.  As  it  was,  they 
marched  a  few  miles  inland  almost  without 
opposition.  Turks  who  are  not  in  the  Govern- 
ment consider  the  position  very  serious,  but 
the  officials  still  profess  optimism.  They  always 
continue  here  serene  until  the  end.  I  suggested 
to  the  Italians  that  when  they  break  they  add 
the  Armenian  question  to  the  cause.  The 
moral  effect  would  be  considerable,  and  as  they 
have  territorial  ambitions  over  Cilicia,  there 
would  be  a  distant  political  gain  in  obtaining 
the  gratitude  of  the  population.  G.,  with  whom 
I  discussed  It,  was  afraid  lest  this  would  mean 
more  delay,  as  he  would  have  to  ask  for  fresh 
instructions  at  a  time  when  he  Is  anxious  to 
leave. 

A  certain  number  of  Turkish  officers  in 
handcuffs  have  arrived  from  the  Dardanelles, 
and  there  are  repeated  rumours  of  mutiny  or 
rather  of  refusal  to  march  against  the  Allies. 
There  Is  probably  some  foundation,  for  the  war 
is  not  popular,  and  the  Turkish  soldiers  go  to 
the  front  with  resignation  but  little  cheer.  I 
heard  of  one  officer,  a  former  military  attach6, 
who  positively  refused  to  fight  either  English 
or  French,  though  he  declared  himself  ready  to 
march  against  the  Russians.  In  most  cases, 
however,  the  reluctance  comes  from  fear  of  the 
big  guns.     Their  celebrity  has  spread  through 


228  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Asia  Minor,  and  the  Anatolian  peasant  has 
little  wish  to  be  a  victim. 

Aug.  10. — The  recent  English  landing, 
according  to  Enver,  consists  of  three  divisions, 
or  over  fifty  thousand  men,  and  they  have 
already  effected  their  junction  with  the  forces 
of  Ari  Bournu.  But  Enver  is  always  con- 
fident, and  declared  this  morning  that  whatever 
number  the  Allies  send,  will  always  be  opposed 
by  superior  forces.  He  claims  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  in  course  of  training  here. 
His  serenity  is  extraordinary,  and  convinced 
my  pro-German  informant,  who  had  been  de- 
pressed by  the  news  of  the  landing.  The 
English  have  advanced  be^^ond  the  Salt  Lake, 
and  if  they  can  occupy  the  crest  of  the  hills, 
they  should  soon  make  it  hot  for  their  defenders. 

Later  news  from  Koloucheff  is  that  the 
battle  has  been  raging  since  yesterday  morning, 
and  that  they  have  not  yet  been  able  to  stop 
the  English  advance,  which  now  occupies  Buyuk 
and  Kutchuk  Anafarta.  Still,  they  express 
confidence.  W.,  who  is  in  with  the  Germans, 
though  not  unsympathetic  to  the  Entente, 
thinks  that  without  Bulgaria  they  will  never 
pass  the  Dardanelles,  and  if  the  hundred  heavy 
guns  now  lying  at  the  Roumanian  frontier  are 
allowed  to  come  through  the  Allies  will  be 
driven  away.     We  have  some  indication  of  the 


TREATMENT  OF  PRISONERS     229 

losses  by  a  hurry  order  for  all  hospital  ships  to 
go  down  to  the  Dardanelles,  and  for  every 
available  bed  here  to  be  made  ready.  Eight 
thousand  wounded  are  expected  at  once. 

Neither  the  Austrians  nor  the  Germans 
were  consulted  or  even  informed  by  the  Turks 
about  the  recent  Italian  ultimatum.  They  had 
no  idea  of  it,  until  they  heard  it  was  accepted, 
and  both  Ambassadors  have  now  protested 
over  the  scanty  consideration  shown  them  as 
allies. 

Aug.  II. — The  prisoners  at  Afioun  Kara- 
hissar  are  now  fairly  well  treated.  Though 
suffering  no  physical  ill-treatment,  they  were 
handled  with  scanty  consideration  in  the  begin- 
ning when  the  Turks  tried  to  make  it  wilfully 
unpleasant  for  them;  there  has  lately  been 
improvement.  The  officers  occupy  a  small 
house;  they  were  obliged  to  lease  quarters 
from  the  Commandant's  brother  at  an  exorbitant 
rent.  They  have  a  small  space  in  the  garden 
for  exercise,  but  lately  a  little  more  liberty  is 
given  them.  The  Turks  too  are  beginning  to 
take  more  prisoners  at  the  Dardanelles.  Enver 
felt  the  stigma  that  they  gave  no  quarter,  and 
issued  stringent  orders  to  the  contrary.  In  the 
last  few  days  they  report  capturing  almost  two 
hundred;  but  it  will  be  some  time  before  we 
know  if  this  is  true.     Whenever  we  received 


230  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

inquiries  about  the  missing,   there  has  so  far 
been  only  one  answer  to  give. 

The  reports  about  the  Armenians  have  now 
come  in  from  every  Consul  in  the  interior;  no 
longer  hearsay,  but  direct — terrible  in  their 
grim  tragedy.  At  Harput  our  Consul  lately 
saw  the  deported  during  the  halt  there,  and 
related  that  nothing  could  equal  their  misery. 
He  spoke  to  three  sisters  educated  here  and 
speaking  English.  They  belonged  to  the 
richest  family  of  Erzeroum,  and  when  ordered 
to  go  they  had  with  them  horses  and  valuables. 
At  that  time  their  family  consisted  of  twenty- 
five  members.  Eleven  of  these  had  already 
been  murdered  before  their  eyes  on  the  road- 
side, and  the  oldest  remaining  male  represent- 
ative w^as  only  eight  years  of  age.  They  had 
been  stripped  of  everything  by  the  Kurds  and 
left  literally  naked,  till  their  very  guards  had 
to  borrow  shirts  for  them  from  the  women  of  a 
Turkish  village.  About  five  hundred  formed 
this  caravan,  mostly  women  and  children,  for 
nearly  all  the  men  had  already  been  killed. 
They  had  been  two  months  on  the  road.  The 
Government  doled  them  out  a  pittance  of  food, 
for  which  they  fought  like  wild  beasts.  The 
women  would  beg  passers-by  to  take  their 
children,  so  that  they  at  least  might  not  starve. 
And  at  every  halt  Turks  would  be  invited  to 


MASSACRE  OF  ARMENIANS       231 

select  such  women  as  they  preferred,  and  would 
often  come  attended  by  physicians  to  inspect 
these.     The  fate  of  the  men  is  simpler.     They 
are     led     away    at    night    into     neighbouring 
valleys  and  shot  down  in  cold  blood  by  their 
guards,   who  finish  them  with  their  bayonets. 
The  murder  of  Armenians  has  become  almost 
a  sport,  and  one  Turkish  lady  passing  one  of 
these    caravans,    and    thinking   she    too   would 
relish  killing  an  Armenian,  on   the  guards'  in- 
vitation took  out  a  revolver  and  shot  the  first 
poor   wretch    she    saw.     The   whole    policy   of 
extermination    transcends    one's    capacity    for 
indignation.     It    has    been    systematic    in    its 
atrocious  cruelty,  even  to  the  extent  of  throw- 
ing the  blame  for  the  murders  on  the  Kurds, 
who  are  instigated  by  the  Government  to  lie  in 
wait  in  order  to  kill  and  pillage.     Its  horrors 
would  be  unbelievable  if  less  universally  attested. 
For  scientific  cruelty  and  butchery  it  remains 
without  precedent.     The  Turks  have  wilfully 
destroyed    the    greatest    source    of    economic 
wealth  in  their  country.     In  three  months'  time 
they   have   done   more  damage   than   years  of 
war    could    have    caused.     The    persecution    is 
madness,    but   one   wonders   when   the   day   of 
reckoning  will  come,  and  if  it  is  close  enough 
at  hand  still  to  save  the  few  remnants  of  this 
wretched  community. 


232  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Aug.  12. — This  morning  at  three  o'clock  a 
violent  cannonading  shook  the  house.  Helene 
asked  If  it  was  the  signal  for  a  massacre,  for 
one's  nerves  are  on  edge,  but  fortunately  I 
remembered  it  was  Bairam.  We  shall  be 
treated  to  the  same  kind  of  celebration  during 
the  next  three  days. 

The  Italians  are  a  little  perplexed  over 
their  position.  In  Syria,  where  they  were  to 
leave  in  our  warships,  the  authorities  demand 
that  these  take  the  belligerent  subjects,  mostly 
Jews,  as  well  as  neutrals.  But  as  there  Is  no 
port  to  land  the  former  the  latter  cannot  go. 
It  Is  a  violation  of  the  recent  ultimatum. 
Italian  vessels  are  now  on  their  way  to  embark 
their  reservists.  If  they  break  at  once  their 
subjects  will  not  be  allowed  to  leave  at  all. 
If  they  delay  In  order  to  get  these  away  the 
opportunity  for  rupture  may  pass. 

The  Greeks,  after  having  been  without  a 
minister  here  for  months,  have  suddenly  asked 
for  Gryparis's  "  agrement."  He  knows  this 
country  well,  but  It  Is  Inconceivable  that  an 
envoy  be  sent  In  the  midst  of  Greek  perse- 
cutions. At  Athens  the  papers  published 
accounts  of  these,  but  the  Gounaris  Govern- 
ment as  promptly  denied  their  truth.  They  are 
interested  In  only  one  thing — downing  Venl- 
zelos,  and  to  bring  this  about  are  ready  to  do 


INTRIGUES  IN  GREECE  233 

anything  under  cover  of  the  King.  The  latter 
is  playing  a  most  dangerous  game,  though  his 
philo-Germanism  may  be  of  greater  use  to  him 
at  Berlin  than  in  Athens.  It  seems  pitiable 
to  think  of  Greece  divided  at  this  time  and 
indulging  in  wretched  personal  bickerings. 

Gryparis*s  appointment  may  mask  another 
purpose.  The  Entente,  which  has  just  pre- 
sented its  note  at  Nisch,  recommending  the 
cession  of  Macedonia  to  the  Bulgars,  has  also 
handed  one  to  Greece,  which  is  understood  to 
urge  the  cession  of  Cavalla  in  return  for  other 
compensation,  which  includes  Cyprus.  As  the 
Gounaris  Government  has  made  the  retention 
of  Cavalla  a  point  of  honour  in  order  to  spite 
Venizelos,  and  prefers  this  to  every  other 
blandishment,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  are 
resuming  normal  diplomatic  relations  here  to 
give  the  impression  of  flirting  with  Germany 
and  ease  the  pressure  brought  on  them  by  the 
Entente,  which  had  regarded  Greece  as  a 
vassal  state.  The  Germans  have  bought  up 
half  the  papers  in  Athens,  have  organized 
manifestations,  and  their  activity  extends 
through  the  army;  but  the  people  remain  solid 
for  the  Entente.  It  will  be  curious  to  watch 
how  much  longer  the  present  jockeying  tactics 
can  keep  Venizelos  from  power. 

-^w^-    13. — New  orders  have  been  received 


234  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

at  the  Syrian  ports  forbidding  the  departure 
of  any  neutrals.  Djemal,  who  acts  as  a  dictator 
and  never  hesitates  to  disobey  orders  from  the 
capital,  has  probably  taken  the  matter  into  his 
own  hands.  Djemal  is  even  more  high-handed 
than  the  men  here,  and  I  lately  heard  him 
described,  with  some  reason,  as  a  megalomaniac 
with  homicidal  tendencies.  His  action  is  in 
direct  violation  of  the  recent  ultimatum,  and 
gives  the  Italians  ample  ground  for  a  casuo  belli. 
They  have,  however,  referred  the  matter  to 
Rome  before  breaking. 

The  last  regular  Syrian  troops  are  being 
dispatched  to  the  front.  The  25th  Division 
arrived  some  time  ago,  and  the  other  two  are 
now  on  their  way.  There  has  been  a  shortage 
of  coal,  but  a  few  thousand  tons  arrived  yester- 
day and  orders  have  come  to  send  it  at  once  to 
Panderma  for  military  transport.  It  looks  as 
if  the  English  were  now  straining  their  efforts 
to  cut  the  communications  at  Gallipoli  from  the 
European  side.  The  new  landing  is  reported  to 
have  consisted  of  over  100,000  men,  and  the 
lines  have  been  extended,  it  is  said,  almost  to 
Boulair,  apparently  with  the  idea  of  encircling 
the  Turks.  The  Turkish  wounded  say  the 
losses  on  their  side  are  enormous,  for  time 
and  again  they  had  to  charge  in  the  face  of 
machine   gun   fire,   only   to   be   mowed   down. 


ENVER'S  OPTIMISM  235 

Yet  their  moral  remains  wonderfully  good.  The 
official  communique  speaks  of  the  severe  Allied 
losses  and  of  3000  British  dead  lying  in  front 
of  one  of  their  divisions.  The  struggle  is 
going  on  for  the  mastery  of  the  heights,  but 
with  result  unknown,  though  the  foothills  are 
undoubtedly  in  English  possession. 

Enver  is  cheery  as  ahvays,  and  now  takes  the 
entire  credit  on  himself  for  the  German  cam- 
paign in  Poland,  since  Turkey,  by  immobilizing 
400,000  English,  has  prevented  the  latter  from 
breaking  through  in  Flanders.  The  recent 
landing  at  Suvla  merely  lengthened  the  Ari 
Bournu  line  and  will  allow  them  to  pierce  it 
more  easily.  He  quoted  General  d'Amade  as 
being  right  when  he  wanted  at  least  300,000 
men  to  undertake  the  Dardanelles  expedition 
and  give  battle  in  the  open.  Now,  he  said, 
500,000  would  still  be  insufficient,  and  declared 
that  on  their  War  Office  rolls  1,890,000  men 
had  been  mobilized.  If  one  counts  the  labour 
battalions  of  Greeks  and  Armenians  this  is 
possibly  true,  but  it  w^ould  be  surprising  if 
more  than  800,000  were  armed  and  equipped. 
Certainly  very  few  of  the  troops  one  sees  here 
now  have  rifles.  As  a  recent  trophy  Enver 
has  mounted  on  a  Byzantine  marble  column 
in  his  garden  a  15-inch  shell  from  the  Queen 
Elizabeth, 


236  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Aug,  14. — I  visited  the  Harble  hospital  this 
morning,  wishing  to  see  fifteen  wounded  Aus- 
tralians and  New  Zealanders  whom  I  heard 
were  there,  but  thought  it  wiser  not  to  declare 
my  intention.  The  Turkish  surgeon  in  charge, 
however,  asked  me  at  once  if  I  wanted  to  visit 
them,  and  put  me  in  charge  of  an  American- 
educated  Armenian  physician,  who  took  me  to 
their  ward.  The  Turks  are  very  proud  of  being 
able  at  last  to  produce  some  prisoners,  and 
showing  how  well  they  look  after  these,  for  the 
reports  of  murdering  the  wounded  had  ended 
by  vexing  them.  Of  the  fifteen,  three  were 
bad  cases,  and  may  not  recover.  One  pre- 
sented a  horrible  dropsical  appearance,  and 
suffered  from  a  bullet  wound  received  w^hile 
lying  on  the  ground,  which  penetrated  his  lung 
and  came  out  through  the  small  of  the  back; 
but  he  was  already  better,  after  life  had  been 
despaired  of.  The  wounded  with  whom  I 
spoke  were  confident  and  cheerful,  certain  of 
final  success.  They  were  proud  of  themselves 
as  Australians,  and  thought  they  had  done  their 
share.  "  They  say  we  were  better  than  the 
English,"  one  pale  lad,  w^ith  a  bullet  through 
his  leg,  remarked.  He  had  fallen  in  a  bayonet 
charge  at  the  foot  of  Hill  781,  and  owed  his 
life  to  shamming  death.  His  comrades  around 
him,  who  had  been  left  there  wounded,  had  all 


BRITISH  PRISONERS  237 

been  bayoneted,  like  hundreds  of  others,  he  told 
me.  He  himself  was  finally  pulled  into  a 
Turkish  trench  by  an  officer.  He  had  been 
stripped  of  everything,  but  the  officer  gave 
him  a  pair  of  boots.  Three  times  his  few 
belongings  were  taken  from  him,  and  as  often 
new  ones  given,  for  the  Turks  are  extraordinary 
in  this.  One  moment  they  will  murder  wantonly, 
and  the  next  surprise  every  one  by  their  kind- 
ness. Thus  when  the  first  English  submarine 
prisoners  were  led  into  the  hospital  at  Chanak, 
shivering  in  their  wet  clothes,  the  Turkish 
wounded  called  them  guests,  and  insisted  on 
their  being  given  everything  new,  and  such 
few  delicacies  as  they  possessed.  At  the 
Harbie  hospital  the  men  were  in  good  hands. 
I  reassured  them  about  their  fate  as  prisoners, 
but  warned  them  to  be  careful  of  what  they 
said — for  their  opinion  of  the  Turkish  soldiery 
was  not  very  high.  "  They  run  when  we 
charge,"  and  "  if  it  were  not  for  the  Germans," 
were  the  two  remarks  I  heard.  But  they  also 
criticized  their  own  officers  as  too  young  and 
inexperienced.  They  spoke  of  considerable 
numbers  of  Turkish  prisoners  taken  lately. 
The  Gurkhas  had  brought  in  700  a  few  nights 
before,  when  they  captured  a  gun.  Their 
advance  was  steady.  They  themselves  had 
been   taken   over   two   miles   from    the   coast. 


238  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Only  a  little  more,  and  the  main  ridge  over- 
looking the  Straits  would  be  in  thoir  possession. 

The  Turkish  losses  have  been  enormous. 
One  Turkish  medical  officer  spoke  of  100,000 
killed.  This  afternoon  at  the  Harbie  alone  500 
more  wounded  are  expected. 

Lunched  at  the  Roumanian  Legation  in 
honour  of  Prince  Hohenlohe.  Weitz,  who  sat 
next  to  me  at  table,  tried  to  find  out  about  the 
plans  of  the  Italians,  and  thought  their  declar- 
ing war  on  Turkey  would  be  followed  by  a 
German  declaration  against  them.  If  they 
brought  troops  to  the  Dardanelles,  these  would 
be  fighting  the  Germans.  He  was  in  a  par- 
ticularly cocky  mood,  though  he  described 
himself  as  the  most  moderate  of  his  nation. 
The  Germans  would  soon  occupy  Petrograd. 
They  had  on  the  East  front  twelve  armies  and 
sixty-one  army  corps,  and  the  Russians  in 
another  week's  time  would  be  definitely  crushed. 
There  were  only  two  and  a  half  Austrian  corps 
with  them,  all  the  rest  were  German,  which  is 
untrue.  As  soon  as  Russian  resistance  was 
definitely  crushed,  they  would  send  an  army 
to  occupy  the  Valley  of  the  Po,  and  another 
to  conquer  Champagne  and  Normandy.  The 
French  population  from  both  provinces,  as  well 
as  in  Belgium,  would  be  expelled,  and  Germans 
settled  there — these  would  be  their  new  colonies,, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  MARNE    239 

and  they  were  entirely  indifferent  to  public 
opinion  in  the  matter.  He  cited,  with  full 
statistics,  all  the  triumphs  of  German  organiza- 
tion, but  I  told  him  that  he  had  forgotten  one 
— they  had  taught  their  enemies  to  do  the  same, 
and  that  there  was  quite  as  much  confidence  in 
London  and  Paris  as  at  Berlin. 

A  young  German  guardsman,  Von  W.,  who 
had  seen  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  the  march  on 
Paris,  and  had  then  looked  forward  to  supping 
at  Maxim's,  was  more  agreeable.  He  spoke 
in  high  terms,  and  without  rancour,  of  both 
French  and  English,  and  most  appreciatively 
of  the  splendid  fighting  qualities  of  the  first 
British  Expeditionary  Force.  The  retreat 
from  the  Marne  was  effected  without  they 
themselves  at  first  realizing  it.  They  had 
just  attended  divine  service  when  the  orders 
came  to  take  another  road,  which  they  did, 
ignoring  it  was  a  retreat.  He  laid  the  blame 
on  Von  Hausen's  army,  which  by  its  delay 
had  allowed  the  French  to  wedge  them  in  from 
three  sides. 

Aug.  15. — Sixty  English  prisoners  arrived 
here  this  morning,  and  were  marched  across 
the  bridge.  The  French  prisoners  from  the 
Marriette  have  been  interned  at  Angora.  The 
War  Office  has  felt  the  stigma  of  not  being 
able  to  point  to  any  other  prisoners  than  the 


240  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

handful  at  Afioun  Karahissar,  so  they  scatter 
the  few  new  ones. 

A  large  collier,  the  Ispahan,  was  sunk  this 
morning  by  a  submarine  in  the  port  of  Haidar 
Pasha  w^hile  she  was  unloading,  the  submarine 
creeping  up  under  the  lee  of  another  boat. 
The  Ispahan  sank  in  such  shallow  water  that 
most  of  the  coal  can  be  recovered.  Two  trans- 
ports, with  supplies,  were  also  sunk  in  the 
Marmora.  One  is  the  Chios,  the  other  the 
Samsoun, 

Aug.  1 6. — The  Goehen  is  reported  to  have 
left  for  the  Dardanelles.  Various  reasons  are 
given,  but  the  favourite  one  is  that  the  Germans 
had  been  criticized  for  exposing  Turkish  ships 
and  not  their  own.  The  recent  fighting  there 
has  been  very  severe,  and  the  Turks  claim 
success.  They  admit  that  the  landing  w^as  a 
surprise,  that  the  English  were  able  to  destroy 
a  weak  division  of  invalids  sent  back  to  the 
front  before  they  were  well,  and  which,  though 
intended  for  reserve,  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
the  attack  with  only  two  field-pieces.  As  soon 
as  reinforcements  were  brought  up  the  Allies 
lost  the  hill  they  had  first  captured.  There  are 
rumours  of  a  surrender  of  1200  English,  of 
whom  only  200  have  been  saved  from  massacre. 
But,  as  usual,  it  is  hard  to  know  what  to  believe, 
though  it  looks  as  if  operations  were  again  at 


GRAND  VIZIER'S  PREDICTIONS    241 

a  standstill.  The  most  discouraging  symptom 
here  is  that  the  few  mlHtary  men  friendly  to 
the  Allies  see  no  hope  of  success.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  the  scarcity  of  muni- 
tions, which  is  bound  to  come  up.  I  learn 
from  a  Turkish  friend  that  for  the  present  they 
still  have  a  supply,  and  so  long  as  it  lasts  the 
Dardanelles  are  impregnable,  but  it  cannot  go 
on  indefinitely.  As  it  is,  they  say  the  Allies 
fire  ten  shots  to  their  one.  Their  average 
losses  now  run  to  1500  men  daily. 

There  are  fresh  rumours  of  Liman  von 
Sanders's  retirement,  owing  to  differences  with 
Enver.  The  latter  is  always  in  favour  of  a 
grand  attack  pushed  on  regardlessly,  while 
Liman  points  out  that  in  case  of  reverse,  the 
capital  would  be  in  danger.  The  Grand  Vizier 
remains  serene  through  it  all,  hurling  defiance 
at  the  rest  of  the  world.  "  England,"  he  re- 
marked to  a  Turkish  friend,  ''  we  used  to  fear 
England;  now  we  know  she  can  do  nothing  to 
us."  He  calmly  prophesied  at  Bairam  that  the 
war  would  be  over  in  twenty  days,  the  Russians 
being  completely  beaten;  he  had  this  himself 
from  the  German  General  Staff.  And  when 
the  Austrian  Ambassador  remonstrated  about 
the  Armenian  persecution,  saying  that  every 
Christian  country  would  be  against  them,  he 
rejoined,  "  They  have  only  to  become  Moslem." 


242  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

But  the  Committee  holds  him  In  stiff  check. 
He  lately  received  a  sharp  letter  from  Fethy 
Bey,  the  Turkish  Minister  at  Sofia,  who  had 
been  left  uninformed  of  some  independent 
negotiations  carried  on  here  with  Bulgaria. 
The  Grand  Vizier  asked  for  his  resignation, 
and  proposed  to  send  Djevad  in  his  place. 
Talaat,  however,  stopped  this  and  rebuked  the 
Grand  Vizier  for  venturing  to  take  such  a 
decision  without  consulting  his  superiors. 

Talaat  remarked  to-day  that  the  agreement 
with  Bulgaria  was  as  good  as  signed,  which  is 
proof  that  it  is  not.^  I  fancy  the  Bulgars  went 
ahead  with  it  to  the  utmost  limit  In  order  to 
blackmail  the  Entente  Into  extorting  the  greatest 
concessions,  but  doubt  If  they  will  commit  them- 
selves to  either  side  for  the  present.  At 
Bucarest  they  seem  at  last  to  have  made  their 
arrangements  with  Russia,  but  the  time  of  entry 
is  left  to  their  discretion,  and  the  present  moment 
is  not  opportune. 

Aug.  17. — The  scarcity  of  foodstuffs  Is  daily 

^  The  protocol  between  Bulgaria  and  Turkey  was  signed  in 
the  latter  part  of  September  in  the  railway  station  at  Demotika. 
Its  signature  was  dependent  on  the  Bulgarian  decree  of  mobil- 
ization, and  only  after  copies  of  this  had  been  posted  late  at 
night  in  the  streets  of  Sofia,  and  so  reported  by  the  Turkish 
Legation  there  to  the  Governor  of  Adrianople,  Hadji  Adil  Bey, 
was  the  latter  empowered  to  sign.  The  complete  taking  over 
of  the  territory  ceded  by  Turkey  was  fixed  for  the  day  when 
the  Bulgarians  attacked  the  Serbs. 


SCARCITY  OF  FOODSTUFFS      243 

making  itself  more  felt.  There  is  hardly  any 
bread,  and  there  are  always  fights  over  the  dis- 
tribution at  the  bakeries.  Only  the  other  day 
a  woman  died  from  the  effects  of  being  roughly 
handled  by  the  police,  who  are  present  when  it 
is  doled  out.  There  is  like  scarcity  with  other 
staples.  Rice  now  costs  thirteen  piastres  an  oke 
instead  of  two,  and  dried  beans  seven  piastres, 
when  a  year  ago  they  were  sold  for  one.  Coal 
is  four  times  its  usual  price,  and  there  is  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  it.  Production  and  trans- 
portation have  practically  ceased,  and,  as  if 
this  were  not  enough,  the  Society  of  National 
Defence  has  monopolized  all  commodities,  and 
doles  them  out  at  enormous  profits.  The  misery 
is  intense,  and  one  can  hardly  conceive  what  it 
will  be  during  the  winter  if  the  Allies  do  not 
enter.  Every  now  and  then  there  are  attempts 
to  repro vision  the  capital.  Occasional  Rou- 
manian ships  slip  through  the  Russian  blockade, 
which  is  very  ineffective,  and  some  of  the 
enterprising  local  Jews  send  "  mahons  **  to 
Ismidt  to  bring  back  what  they  can.  They 
usually  send  five  or  six  in  succession,  as  some 
are  certain  to  come  to  grief  at  the  hands  of  the 
submarines,  who  have  established  a  firm  con- 
trol. When  the  history  of  this  war  comes  to 
be  written,  there  will  be  no  more  interesting 
chapter  than  the  exploits  of  these  submarines 


244  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

in  the  Marmora.  Their  reprovisioning  in  petrol 
and  torpedoes  is  a  mystery  to  every  one,  though 
some  beheve  it  is  carried  on  at  night  by  hydro- 
planes. 

The  Germans  are  expecting  a  large  increase 
in  their  own  submarine  strength.  They  ascribe 
recent  inactivity  to  the  thorough  overhauling 
required  after  their  long  journey  out.  Their 
other  ships  too  are  disabled.  The  Breslau  is 
still  in  dry  dock  alongside  the  Goehen,  which 
has  not  stirred,  and  the  Tor  gout  Reis  is  under 
repair  in  the  Golden  Horn.  The  rows  of 
steamers  in  port  have  thinned  appreciably  of 
late,  for  many  have  been  sunk  in  the  Marmora 
and  the  Black  Sea.  I  doubt  if  they  can  round 
up  more  than  a  dozen  now  of  any  size. 

In  spite  of  the  thousands  of  wounded  who 
have  again  come  in  to  choke  the  hospitals,  the 
Turks  remain  confident  over  the  Dardanelles, 
where  Enver  claims  to  have  more  than  half 
destroyed  the  recent  landing.  They  are  worried, 
though,  over  Athens  and  Sofia,  especially  the 
latter.  Little  has  transpired,  but  the  current 
there  now  seems  to  favour  the  Entente.  The 
two  Bulgarian  delegates,  who  were  secretly 
negotiating  here,  have  both  left,  and  the  agree- 
ment with  Turkey,  it  is  supposed,  has  come  to 
nothing. 

Aug,  1 8, — The  last  mission  to  Afghanistan 


ALARM  ABOUT  BAGDAD    245 

has  failed  as  dismally  as  the  first,  and  could 
never  get  beyond  Bagdad.  The  two  thousand 
pounds  given  each  of  its  two  members  was 
always  considered  insufficient,  and  pan- Islamic 
dreams  will  need  more  to  be  awakened  for 
German  benefit.  They  are  beginning  to  be 
somewhat  alarmed  over  Bagdad,  and  the  latest 
report  is  that  Djemal  has  been  requested  to 
leave  his  Syrian  Satrapy  to  drive  the  English 
from  Mesopotamia. 

There  are  reports  of  Turkish  ill-success  at 
the  Dardanelles,  and  that  officers  at  the  War 
Office  have  said  the  news  received  was  terrible. 
Also  that  Boulair  had  fallen.  But  it  is  all  too 
vague,  and  responds  more  likely  to  the  wishes 
of  the  sponsors.  What  I  believe  to  be  correct 
is  the  reason  given  why  a  few  prisoners  are 
now  taken.  The  authorities,  who  winced  a 
little  under  the  reproach  of  massacring  the 
wounded,  offer  now  a  medjid  and  a  half,  or 
five  shillings,  to  every  soldier  who  brings  in 
a  captive — the  official  estimate  for  the  life  of 
an  Englishman. 

The  Armenian  persecution  is  said  to  have 
been  mitigated  owing  to  the  indignation  pro- 
voked among  Russophil  Bulgars,  who  use  it 
as  a  weapon  to  attack  the  Government;  but 
that  can  hardly  be  true,  and  the  deportations 
have   now   begun   at   Broussa.     When   Talaat 


246  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

was  asked  to  make  an  exception  in  favour  of 
one  family,  he  expressed  surprise  that  they 
should  have  begun  these  ahead  of  his  time- 
table. But  he  was  in  a  very  yielding  mood, 
which  is  always  a  sign  here  of  something  going 
wrong,  and  excepted  from  the  persecution 
Armenian  Catholics  and  Protestants.  Yet  they 
stop  even  Armenian  women  from  leaving  the 
capital,  and  Haladjian,  the  one  Armenian 
member  of  the  outer-inner  circle  of  the  Union 
and  Progress,  who  feasted  them  at  banquets,  has 
not  yet  been  able  to  obtain  permission  to  leave. 

Cavalla  is  reported  occupied  by  the  English, 
and  the  Greeks  are  furious.  The  Serbians  are 
now  In  a  yielding  mood  over  Macedonia,  and 
one  wonders  what  Bulgaria  will  do.  Koloucheff 
denied  to  me  that  there  was  any  change  irii- 
pendlng,  and  offered  as  proof  the  expected 
arrival  of  his  wife  and  children.  He  had  gone 
to  the  station  the  night  before  to  meet  them, 
but  they  were  not  on  the  train.  One  wonders 
if  they  will  come. 

Aug.  19. — The  Greeks  here  are  jubilant 
over  the  triumph  of  Venizelos,  but  the  local 
press  is  not  allowed  to  publish  this,  and  the 
word  passes  only  from  mouth  to  mouth.  There 
are  insistent  rumours  of  Bulgarian  mobilization 
and  her  impending  entry.  The  Turks  are 
nervous,   and  the  press  silent.     One  detail  is 


SCARCITY  OF  BREAD  247 

significant.  Mme.  Koloucheff,  who  was  ex- 
pected, has  now  put  off  her  arrival,  while  her 
husband  said  yesterday  that  the  Bulgarian 
students  at  Robert  College  would  not  return, 
as  they  were  needed  for  the  army. 

A  row  has  broken  out  between  the  Sheikh- 
ul-Islam  and  Ismet  Bey,  the  Prefect  of  the 
City,  but  the  details  are  still  obscure.  It  con- 
cerns the  scarcity  of  bread,  which  is  causing 
serious  anxiety,  and  is  directed  against  the 
sub-committee  responsible  for  this,  who  are 
said  to  be  making  four  thousand  pounds  daily. 
There  was  some  idea  of  appointing  Shukri,  who 
already  holds  three  portfolios,  to  investigate  the 
matter,  but  he  was  himself  implicated.  The 
Sheikh-ul-Islam  resigned,  but  Enver  begged 
him  to  reconsider,  and  the  affair  is  in  suspense. 
Other  matters,  notably  the  Armenian  persecu- 
tion, came  up  as  well,  and  some  say  that  the 
Sheikh-ul-Islam  demanded  that  this  be  put  a 
stop  to.  There  are  also  reports  of  peace  talk 
in  the  Committee.  Many  believe  that  sooner 
or  later  the  Dardanelles  will  be  forced,  and 
more  favourable  terms  could  now  be  obtained 
than  later.  Every  one,  of  course,  has  his  own 
version.  But,  save  for  the  row,  and  the  fact 
that  it  has  had  to  do  with  foodstuffs,  one 
knows  nothing. 

Aug.   20. — Garroni   called   this   morning   to 


248  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

show  his  declaration  of  war,  which  he  was 
about  to  hand  to  the  Grand  Vizier.  Though 
he  had  personally  given  me  every  indication 
it  was  forthcoming,  the  matter  has  been  kept 
a  profound  secret,  and  no  one  expected  it  now. 
The  Declaration  is  based  on  the  refusal  of  the 
Turks  to  live  up  to  the  recent  agreement. 
They  had  prevented  Italians  from  leaving  the 
country,  or  coupled  their  departure  with  con- 
ditions which  made  this  inadmissible;  and, 
further,  had  sent  officers  to  Lybia  to  stir  up 
the  tribes  against  them. 

He  returned  to  turn  over  Italian  interests 
immediately  after  his  visit  to  the  Grand  Vizier. 
The  latter  expressed  regret  on  hearing  of  its 
contents,  but  exclaimed,  ''  These  are  pretexts." 
He  showed  real  surprise  that  the  terms  of  the 
recent  ultimatum  had  not  been  lived  up  to, 
and  was  himself  in  ignorance  of  the  circum- 
stances, for  he  is  informed  of  nothing.  We 
now  have  the  Italians  to  watch  over,  with 
Russians  and  Montenegrins  to  add  to  all  the 
others,  British,  French,  Belgian,  Serbian,  and 
some  of  the  Swiss — eight  countries  in  all.  We 
have  had  to  arrange  for  Garroni's  departure 
with  a  special  train,  but  there  are  no  difficulties 
this  time.  Both  Bedri  and  Talaat  called  on 
him  during  the  afternoon,  for  he  is  personally 
popular  and  deservedly  liked  by  every  one. 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ITALIANS   249 

Aug.  21. — At  eight  o'clock  this  morning, 
after  much  wavering,  Helene  decided  to  leave 
with  the  ItaHans,  who  were  going  by  special 
train.  I  encouraged  her,  as  the  immediate 
future  is  very  uncertain,  and  if  Bulgaria  moves, 
we  shall  soon  be  besieged.  Travelling  now, 
she  will  have  every  comfort,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity for  going  is  too  good  to  be  neglected. 

At  the  station  the  scene  was  more  like  a 
wedding  than  a  declaration  of  war.  Every  one 
was  in  good  humour,  including  the  Turks,  who 
raised  no  difficulty,  and  had  two  squads  of 
soldiers  drawn  up  to  salute  the  Ambassador 
who  had  just  declared  war  on  them.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  indication  of  hostility  on 
their  part,  nor  was  much  emotion  wasted  on 
events,  though  Garroni  administered  kisses, 
and  even  I  came  in  for  two  from  Colonel  M. 

Garroni,  w^ho  dreaded  a  hostile  demonstra- 
tion, was  enchanted  that  it  passed  off  so  quietly. 
Not  even  the  morning  papers  were  allowed  to 
speak  of  the  new  war,  and  it  was  only  after  he 
left  that  the  Moniteur  published  a  brief  state- 
ment of  his  departure,  inferring  that  it  was  a 
rupture  of  relations.  But  the  crowd  here  is  so 
callous  that,  unless  organized,  no  manifestations 
would  have  taken  place.  The  authorities  were 
careful  to  explain  their  courtesy  on  the  ground 
of  sympathy  for  the  person  of  the  Ambassador, 


250  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

but  It  IS  likely  that  their  unfavourable  situation 
is  making  them  more  polite — the  Turks  are 
always  charming  when  beaten. 

Returning  to  the  Embassy,  all  the  orders 
had  to  be  given  for  sealing  the  various  Italian 
and  Russian  buildings,  where  the  Italian  seals 
are  now  replaced  by  our  own.  Their  Embassy 
will  be  entirely  shut,  their  escutcheon  covered, 
and  their  few  remaining  ofificials  will  now  join 
the  derelicts  of  the  other  belligerent  missions 
in  our  chancery. 

Aug  22. — The  press  here  is  not  yet  allowed 
to  speak  of  war  between  Italy  and  Turkey,  but 
calls  it  a  rupture.     Italy  is,  of  course,  instigated 
by  England,  and  they  bring  up  the  fact  that 
Sonnino's    Christian    name    is    "  Sidney "    as 
proof,  while  the  King  is  led  by  his  Montenegrin 
wife.     The  motive  of  war  is  to  exercise  pressure 
on  the  Balkan  States  at  the  turn  of  the  tide, 
when  they  are  about  to  declare  themselves  for 
the  Central   Powers.     In  reality,   a  man  who 
has    just    come    from    Sofia,    where    he    saw 
RadoslavofT,  Ghenadieff ,  Guechoff ,  and  Malinoff , 
brought    back    the    impression    that    if   Serbia 
yields  Macedonia  they  will  enter  the  field.     Here 
they  are  very  nervous  over  the  prospect,  and 
ready  to  give  up  Adrianople  at  once,  but  there 
is  little  confidence  between  the  two,  and  Bulgaria 
could  hardly  wish  to  see  a  victorious  Turkey. 


RUSSIAN  DIFFICULTIES  251 

R.,  who  came  to  me  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction, has  only  lately  left  the  Russian  front. 
With  Entente  sympathies,   and  a  great  liking 
for  the  individual  Russian,  his  account  of  the 
utter  disorganization  of  their  army,  the  disorder 
and  corruption   in   all   their  services,   was   the 
more  convincing.     There  is  a  growing  feeling 
of  discontent  to  all  this,  and  the  war  now  bids 
fair    to    become    national.      Petrograd,    many 
Russians  thought,  would  fall,  and  he  believed 
it  would  awaken  the  country.     He  related  to 
me  a  sadly  grotesque  case  of  a  large  consign- 
ment  of    artillery    munitions    delivered^  by    a 
French    manufacturer   at    Moscow,    which    on 
arrival  at  the  front  was  found  to  fit  the  German 
guns,  but  not  the  Russian.     The  manufacturer 
was  brought  up  before  the  court-martial,  but 
produced    his    order    and    specifications    duly 
signed  at  the  War  Office! 

^^^  23.— The  report  of  the  poor  Armenians 
driven  from  Ada  Bazar  is  as  sad  as  any  of  the 
narratives  from  the  interior.  They  were  first 
herded  into  cattle  cars,  where  they  were  kept 
during  the  four  or  five  days  of  the  journey. 
Babes  were  born  here,  and  mothers  died.  In 
utter  despair  some  threw  their  children  away. 
Arriving  at  Konia,  which  they  had  been  told 
was  to  be  the  end  of  their  misadventures,  they 
sold  their  personal  effects  to  buy  food.     But  the 


252  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

sale  soon  degenerated  into  a  pillage,  and  a 
friendly  Greek  who  tried  to  protect  an  Armenian 
woman  from  being  looted  was  arrested  by  the 
police,  who  during  the  night  raped  the  girls. 
Many  of  the  women  tried  to  give  their  children 
away  to  our  missionaries,  but  this  was  soon 
stopped  by  order,  and  only  Moslem  families 
were  authorized  to  take  these.  The  deportees 
were  ordered  on.  No  food  was  given  them, 
and  most  of  them  were  literally  soon  starving 
to  death.  A  railway  conductor  relates  that 
the  country  beyond  Konia  is  covered  with 
their  unburied  corpses,  while  on  every  side 
men  dying  from  hunger  are  seen.  Their 
further  emigration  has  now  been  stopped  tem- 
porarily, not  out  of  humanitarian  sentiment, 
but  because  the  line  is  needed  for  the  transport 
of  troops  toward  Mersine,  where  an  Italian 
descent  is  feared.  The  Armenians,  deprived 
of  everything,  are  starving.  Wealthy  families 
of  cultivated  people,  used  to  luxury,  have  at  a 
moment's  notice  been  reduced  to  beggary,  and 
then  tortured  to  death.  This  policy,  which  in 
Anatolia  stops  short  of  actual  massacre,  aims 
to  extract  every  penny  from  a  prosperous 
population,  and  then  exterminates  it  by  starva- 
tion and  privation.  The  misery  and  suffering 
caused  have  been  indescribable.  One  of  the 
worst  features  is  that  the  Moslem  population, 


THE  ARMENIAN  PERSECUTION   253 

notably  at  Konia,  has  never  been  fanatical, 
but  lived  on  the  friendliest  relations  with  its 
Christian  neighbours.  They  are  now  being 
made  so  by  malignant  lies  about  the  Armenians, 
who  are  reported  to  have  massacred  thousands 
of  Turks  at  Van. 

Here  in  the  capital,  while  as  yet  there  have 
been  no  wholesale  deportations,  the  arrests  of 
Armenians  are  of  daily  occurrence,  and  none 
are  allowed  to  leave  the  country.  I  heard  of 
three  who  paid  a  hundred  pounds  apiece  to  one 
incorruptible  official  at  the  Porte,  who  pocketed 
the  sum,  but  obeyed  the  regulation  by  then 
stopping  their  departure. 

There  is  no  real  news  from  the  Dardanelles, 
A  hundred  and  thirty-five  English  prisoners 
have  arrived  here,  and  there  must  be  thirty  or 
more  wounded  in  the  hospitals — not  two  hun- 
dred in  all  of  the  ten  thousand  English  missing! 
The  medjid^and  a  half  apiece  reward  for  them 
is  of  recent  origin.  The  Turks  are  still  con- 
fident, and  hope  that  after  they  repulse  another 
landing,  further  operations  during  the  winter 
will  be  impossible.  Liman  is  again  reported 
in  disgrace,  because  of  having  resigned  himself 
to  the  loss  of  a  strategic  position ;  but  a  Turkish 
officer  took  the  initiative  and  recaptured  it  at 
the  cost  of  ten  thousand  men.  Such,  at  least, 
is  the  Turkish  version.  f    - 


254  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

The  Turks  have  invited  the  Austrian 
Government  to  undertake  a  vigorous  offensive 
against  Serbia  in  order  to  paralyze  Bulgaria 
before  she  declares  herself.  The  movement 
is  said  to  be  supported  by  the  Germans. 

Aug.  24. — At  the  Bulgarian  Legation,  Ko- 
loucheff  denied   the  reported   mobilization,   or 
that  any  change  was  impending  at  Sofia.     He 
reiterated  what  he  has  always  stated,  that  the 
present  crisis  should  not  pass  without  Bulgaria 
obtaining  Macedonia.     If  she  obtained  it  from 
the  Entente,  she  would  march  against  Turkey; 
if  not,  he  inferred  she  would  seize  it  for  herself. 
If  the  Entente  remained  unwilling  to  pay  the 
price,  they  had  only  to  take  the  Dardanelles 
for  themselves,  but  this  he  declared  impossible. 
The  Turks  still  had  an  army  of  over  300,000 
men   in    Europe,    and   were   now   turning   out 
4000    shells    daily,    while    this    output    would 
soon    increase — they   were   even    making    pro- 
jectiles of  large  calibre.     They  had  recaptured 
the  heights  of  Anafarta,  temporarily  occupied 
by  the  English,  and  the  latter,  the  Germans 
said,  could  now  land  100,000  more  men  without 
changing  matters.     The  Turks  have  lately  sent 
16,000  soldiers  to  Adrianople  to  intimidate  the 
Bulgarians,    but    they   were   without   artillery. 
He  confirmed  to  me  that  they  were  also  send- 
ing sixty  or  seventy  thousand  troops  southward 


ADMIRAL  SOUCHOW  255 

for    they    expect    an     Italian    landing    near 
Adalia. 

Koloucheff  showed  me  a  memorandum  from 
the  Catholic  Armenian  Patriarch,  who  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  persecution  of  his  flock, 
and  was  base  enough  to  distinguish  the  Catholic 
Armenians  from  the  Gregorians,  blaming  the 
latter  for  their  conduct,  and  almost  justifying 
their  extermination.  His  own  people,  he 
averred,  were  quite  different,  and  would  not 
even  learn  the  Armenian  tongue.  Prince  Ho- 
henlohe  has  filed  a  note  on  the  persecution, 
but  I  fancy  it  is  only  for  purposes  of  German 
record.  He  has  at  last  been  received  by  the 
Sultan.  His  ambassadorial  address,  with  its 
allusion  to  a  *'  guerre  scelerate  *'  waged  against 
the  Central  Powers,  was  surprising  from  one 
so  moderate  in  appearance;  but,  I  learn,  it 
was  written  at  Berlin. 

At  the  Willebois  I  saw  Admiral  Souchow 
of  the  Goeben — a  droop-jawed,  determined  little 
man  in  a  long  ill-fitting  frock-coat,  looking 
more  like  a  parson  than  an  admiral. 

Aug.  25. — Three  ships  have  arrived  here — 
two  colliers  from  Soungouldak  and  a  small 
steamer,  believed  to  have  transported  munitions 
from  Roumania.  Russian  surveillance  has  let 
them  slip  by  as  on  other  occasions. 

The  Turks  have  announced  enormous  losses 


256  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

of  the  English  at  the  Dardanelles.  In  the  last 
attack  they  are  said  to  have  left  5000  dead 
before  a  single  division,  and  in  the  previous 
days  they  estimate  the  English  loss  at  26,000 
dead  and  twice  as  many  wounded.  The  Turkish 
count  is  already  several  times  the  number  of 
the  entire  expeditionary  force.  Doubtless  some 
advance  has  been  made,  and  these  losses  are 
paraded  in  consequence.  But  the  Turks  re- 
main confident.  Von  der  Goltz  remarked 
yesterday  that  they  had  400,000  troops  in 
Europe.  He  is  about  to  establish  his  head- 
quarters at  Uzum  Keupreu,  the  junction  where 
one  leaves  the  railway  to  go  to  the  Dardanelles. 
Between  there  and  Gallipoli  the  estimated 
number  of  Turkish  soldiers  is  between  300,000 
and  325,000.  With  interior  lines,  superior  posi- 
tions and  numbers,  no  wonder  they  feel  they 
can  take  care  of  the  small  reinforcements  sent 
hitherto.  Yet  their  losses  have  been  enormous. 
I  should  say  that  175,000  would  not  cover 
them. 

The  Porte  is  circularizing  us  about  the 
brutal  ill-treatment  of  the  Turkish  prisoners, 
who  are  said  to  be  given  only  dry  bread  to  eat 
at  Mudros,  and  in  certain  instances  to  have 
been  murdered  by  their  guards  out  of  sheer 
brutality.  No  one  believes  a  word  of  it,  but 
it  is  meant  to  excuse  their  own  actions.     At 


THE  TURKISH  CHARACTER      257 

the  hospitals  one  can  no  longer  see  the  wounded 
prisoners;  not  even  the  Ottoman  Greek  nurses 
are  allowed  in  their  wards;  while  the  English 
and  French  ladies,  who  have  hitherto  been  in 
voluntary  attendance,  are  now  dispensed  with. 
As  A.  Bey,  the  most  Anglophile  of  Turks,  said 
to  me,  the  English  are  to-day  hated  here  worse 
than  the  Russians. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  the  Bazaar,  but 
found  only  some  silver-gilt  zarfs  from  Sultan 
Mahmoud's  time.  At  S.'s  shop  I  noticed  a 
soldier  who  left  there  a  basket  of  bread.  S. 
explained  that,  as  the  soldier  could  obtain  as 
much  bread  as  he  wanted,  he  bought  it  from 
him  every  day,  paying  one  hundred  paras  an 
oke  instead  of  sixty,  the  regular  price.  After- 
wards I  called  on  X.  Khan,  and  we  discussed 
the  inherent  obedience  of  the  Turkish  char- 
acter. The  Turkish  nature  is  to  do  as  ordered 
by  the  authorities,  and  it  little  mattered 
who  these  are,  or  what  their  orders  may  be. 
Spontaneous  action  on  their  part  need  never 
be  expected.  He  contrasted  this  with  the  far 
greater  individualism  of  the  Persians.  He  was 
pessimistic  as  usual,  realizing  the  hopelessness 
of  all  diplomacy.  His  remaining  days,  he  said, 
he  wished  to  devote  to  the  study  of  biology  in 
London.  But  he  has  no  other  foundation  than 
his   literary   training   in   Persian   and   Arabic, 


258  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

and  things  must  get  rather  jumbled  in  his 
mind.  What  saves  him  is  the  refinement  of 
his  intelligence  and  his  modesty.  ^ 

Aug,  26. — In  town  the  arrests  of  Armenians 
are  proceeding.  So  far  they  have  taken  only 
those  of  provincial  birth  or  whose  fathers  were 
not  Constantinople-born.  But  it  is  a  beginning, 
and  if  given  time  the  whole  Armenian  popula- 
tion will  probably  share  the  same  fate.  They 
are  first  thrown  into  prison,  and  then  deported, 
to  be  massacred  or  die  of  hunger  in  the  interior 
after  they  have  been  robbed  of  all  their  be- 
longings. 

Yussuf  Izeddin,  alarmed  at  the  general 
situation,  has  tried  to  leave  for  Europe  under  the 
pretext  that  he  had  to  undergo  an  operation. 
But  the  Committee,  although  disliking  him,  is 
reluctant  to  see  him  go,  and  have  so  far  placed 
obstacles  in  his  way.  The  late  Khedive  has 
been  summoned  to  return  here  at  once,  but  as 
he  has  no  intention  of  complying  and  remains 
at  Lucerne,  he  is  to  be  disavowed  from  this  side 
as  well.  He  has  apparently  made  his  peace 
with  the  English.  His  son,  it  is  said,  is  to  be 
sent  to  England  for  his  education,  and  will 
reign  after  the  present  Sultan.  Little  by  little 
all  the  Egyptian  princes  here,  who  at  the  start 
professed  to  be  irreconcilable,  will  make  their 
peace  with  the  new  Sultan.     The  late  Khedive, 


THE  LATE  KHEDIVE  259 

however,  was  not  anti-English,  according  to 
the  view  taken  here.  If  the  Turkish  expedition 
against  Suez  had  been  successful  he  would 
never  have  been  left  on  the  throne.  His 
cousin,  the  Grand  Vizier,  detests  him.  He 
himself  went  to  Berlin  to  ask  Bethmann-Holl- 
weg  what  his  position  would  be;  but  the  latter 
told  him  that  Germany,  though  the  ally  of 
Turkey,  had  nothing  to  do  with  its  internal 
affairs. 

The  wounded  prisoners  here  are  worse 
treated  than  before,  and  many  of  them  are  still 
without  blankets  or  pillows.  They  have  all 
been  gathered  at  the  Tash  Kishlar  hospital, 
and  no  one  is  now  allowed  to  see  them,  much 
to  the  indignation  of  the  Greek  ladies,  who 
have  been  unremitting  in  their  attentions  to 
the  Turkish  wounded.  This  is  said  to  be  a 
reprisal  for  the  alleged  bad  treatment  of  the 
Turkish  prisoners,  about  which  they  now  pro- 
fess indignation.  News  of  this  was  brought 
here  by  a  physician,  who,  returning  from  Egypt, 
declared  that  all  prisoners  there  were  nourished 
only  on  dry  bread,  and  that  even  neutrals  con- 
demned their  ill-treatment;  but  there  have 
probably  been  other  mischief-makers.  It  is  a 
pity  that  the  British  Government  did  not  have 
a  systematic  report  drawn  up  at  once  regarding 
the  prison  camp,  which  we  could  have  shown 


26o  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

the  Turks.  As  it  is,  before  an  inquiry  can  be 
made  there  will  be  endless  delay. 

Aug.  2j. — Dr.  X.  told  me  there  was  a 
noticeable  deterioration  in  the  condition  of  the 
wounded,  both  in  moral  and  physique.  They 
were  older  and  weaker  men  than  those  who 
came  at  first,  and  more  depressed.  Enver, 
however,  remains  triumphant,  and  exults  at  the 
losses  suffered  by  the  English  in  the  plains 
below  Anafarta.  He  described  their  attacks, 
where  "  thousands  "  were  mown  down.  The 
two  hundred  thousand  men  sent  here  in  vain, 
he  said,  could  have  accomplished  more  in 
Flanders.  The  physique  of  the  lately  arrived 
English  wounded  prisoners  has  not  been  im- 
pressive, and  compares  unfavourably  with  that 
of  the  Turks.  Several  bank  clerks  from  Man- 
chester are  among  them. 

M.  Weyl,  the  Director  of  the  Tobacco 
Regie,  has  had  to  leave  the  country.  The 
Committee  of  National  Defence  asked  to  have 
the  tobacco  which  the  Regie  sold  to  the  army 
pass  through  its  hands.  But  instead  of  selling 
it  to  the  soldiers  as  stipulated,  they  did  so  in 
town  at  much  higher  profit.  The  army  ad- 
ministration then  pounced  on  the  Regie  on  the 
ground  that  Weyl  was  a  Frenchman,  but  he 
was  able  to  clear  himself  by  showing  his  new 
instructions.      The  National    Defence    people, 


RUSSIAN  "  GRAFT  "  261 

who  were  unmasked  in  their  illicit  trade,  swore 
vengeance  and  denounced  Weyl  as  a  French 
spy.  His  house  was  searched  without  result, 
but  he  had  to  go,  and  the  Turks  will  probably 
now  try  to  seize  the  Regie  for  themselves. 

Aug.  28. — The  streets  are  full  of  military 
carts  removing  the  bedding  from  hotels.  So 
many  wounded  have  lately  arrived  that  there 
are  no  longer  enough  beds,  and  they  have 
requisitioned  one-third  the  number  at  every 
lodging-house.  There  are  probably  at  least 
35,000  wounded  in  the  capital  now,  of  whom 
two  hundred  are  prisoners. 

I  have  been  trying  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
Russian  "  graft  "  here,  now  that  their  interests 
have  come  under  our  care.  Evidences  of  it 
came  out  in  the  Russian  Consulate,  where  the 
poor  people  were  charged  by  their  cavasses  for 
our  protection  certificates,  which  are  delivered 
free,  on  the  ground  that  It  was  an  American  tax. 
Some  of  the  examples  of  corruption  are  disgust- 
ing. Their  accounts  are  kept  in  gold  at  one 
hundred  piastres  to  the  pound,  but  the  poor 
wretches  have  received  assistance  in  silver 
medjic^s,  while  unwittingly  they  give  a  receipt 
for  the  gold  pound,  which  means  a  net  gain  of 
eight  per  cent.  As  if  this  were  not  enough,  the 
cavasses  in  certain  cases  have  been  bleeding 
them  a  medjid^  for  every  pound  of  relief. 


262  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

Suleyman  Nazif,  the  dismissed  Governor- 
General  of  Bagdad,  is  back  here.  He  had 
given  great  satisfaction  both  among  natives 
and  foreigners.  But  one  day  a  German  officer 
asked  him  to  attend  to  a  matter  at  Zor.  He 
repHed  that  the  place  was  outside  his  jurisdic- 
tion, whereupon  the  German  told  him  insolently 
that  he  would  report  his  refusal  to  assist.  Suley- 
man Nazif  then  reminded  him  sharply  that  he 
wore  a  Turkish  uniform,  and  as  such  was  his 
subordinate,  and  forbade  him  ever  again  to  enter 
his  office.  Shortly  afterward  he  was  himself 
dismissed. 

Helene  telegraphed  to  say  she  was  return- 
ing from  Dedeagatch.  I  wired  her  to  wait  till 
I  could  make  the  arrangements,  and  was  busy 
trying  all  day,  the  difficulty  arising  because  of 
her  maid's  French  nationality.  Enver  is  the 
only  man  who  can  give  permission.  I  had 
Talaat  telephoned  to,  who  said  jestingly  that 
he  was  not  pleased  with  me,  and  therefore  did 
not  wish  Helene  back,  and  still  less  her  French 
maid,  but  finished  by  asking  us  to  ring  up  his 
secretary,  who  would  have  the  necessary  wire 
sent  to  the  frontier  authorities.  But  the  secre- 
tary, although  knowing  it  was  all  right,  dared 
not  give  the  instructions  till  he  saw  Talaat 
himself,  and  the  latter  did  not  show  up.  At  the 
Office  of  Public  Safety,  where  the  orders  must 


TRAVEL  DIFFICULTIES  263 

come  from,  they  had  heard  nothing.  This 
combination  of  red  tape,  absence  of  responsi- 
bility, and  invisibility  of  the  one  or  two  who 
can  alone  issue  orders,  was  irritating  beyond 
belief.  At  half-past  nine  at  night  I  wired 
Helene  not  to  leave  till  the  matter  could  be 
arranged,  which  might  take  several  days,  fearing 
lest  she  would  be  held  up  at  the  frontier. 

Aug.  29. — At  five  this  morning  Helene 
walked  into  my  room  just  as  surprised  at 
my  not  having  met  her  at  the  station  as  I 
was  to  see  her.  She  had  begun  to  fret  as 
soon  as  she  left,  and  the  attempts  to  console 
her  by  saying  that  Constantinople  was  no 
place  for  a  woman  and  that  there  would  soon 
be  massacres  made  her  all  the  more  regretful 
to  have  gone.  At  the  very  last  moment, 
when  she  was  already  on  board  the  ship 
which  the  Italian  Government  had  sent,  she 
could  stand  it  no  longer  and  decided  to 
return.  She  had  never  received  my  wires,  and 
started  on  her  journey  unconcerned.  By  some 
fluke  they  let  the  maid  pass,  for  the  Turkish 
Consul  had  fortunately  made  an  error  by 
visaing  her  passport;  but  they  subjected  the 
maid  to  the  strictest  examination  at  the  frontier, 
even  feeling  her  hair  lest  she  should  be  carrying 
papers  concealed.  Helene  came  back  much 
impressed  by  the  Turkish  preparations  along 


264  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

the  line.  Everywhere  trenches  and  gun- 
positions  have  been  prepared.  Everywhere 
too  she  saw  soldiers  on  their  way  to  the  front. 
S.,  who  returned  this  morning  from  the 
Dardanelles,  had  little  encouraging  to  say. 
The  new  landing  of  100,000  men  accomplished 
nothing  save  to  extend  the  line.  The  first  day 
they  had  rushed  Hill  781  (Khodja  Tchemen) 
which  dominates  the  entire  peninsula,  but  either 
because  they  did  not  hold  it  strongly  enough, 
or  had  not  time  to  organize  the  defence,  the 
English  were  driven  out  again.  A  German 
colonel  named  Kannengiesser,  gathering  three 
divisions  in  reserve,  led  these  to  attack,  and  they 
conquered  the  steep  hill  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  The  German  officers,  who  are  always 
inclined  to  disparage  the  Turks,  spoke  highly  of 
their  bravery  that  day.  Two  other  crests,  which 
had  also  been  captured  by  the  English  on  their 
first  landing,  have  since  been  retaken,  and  the 
latter  driven  back  to  the  protection  of  the  guns 
of  the  fleet.  The  landing  force  is  without  other 
artillery  as  yet  than  machine  guns  and  light 
field-pieces,  and  occupy  the  fringe  of  the  water- 
less plain  of  Anafarta.  All  the  commanding 
positions  are  held  by  the  Turks,  and  these  are 
in  turn  dominated  by  other  ridges  behind.  He 
characterized  the  situation  as  hopeless,  unless 
the   English   bring   up   two   or   three   hundred 


SITUATION  AT  DARDANELLES   265 

thousand  more  men.  The  Turks  had  never 
anticipated  a  landing  at  Suvia,  because  of  the 
immense  natural  advantages  of  the  defence. 
Since  it  has  taken  place  they  have  improved 
these  in  a  marvellous  way.  Thousands  of  men 
are  at  work  every  night,  and  in  eleven  days 
they  had  dug  a  communication  trench  three 
miles  long,  eight  feet  deep,  and  were  now 
widening  it  for  the  passage  of  artillery.  They 
had  over  two  hundred  machine  guns,  all  served 
by  Germans. 

At  Seddulbahr  the  situation  was  stationary. 
There  were  only  9000  French  left  there,  who 
had  suffered  enormously  from  the  enfilade  fire 
poured  in  from  Kum  Kuleh.  The  Allies,  he 
thought,  had  made  a  grave  error  in  not  occupy- 
ing this  point.  At  present  the  scene  of  fight- 
ing had  entirely  been  transferred  to  Anafarta. 
He  was  disposed  to  criticize  the  English  dis- 
positions as  amateurish.  Attacks  would  be 
executed  without  co-operation,  and  units  often 
found  themselves  cut  off  from  each  other. 
The  losses  had  been  enormous,  especially  up 
the  Anafarta  valley,  where  a  double  enfilade 
fire  mowed  down  the  attacks;  27,000  men  lost 
was  only  a  partial  estimate. 

A  deluge  of  telegrams  about  the  Italians 
fell  on  me  from  every  region  of  the  Empire. 
As   usual    Djemal's   dispositions   stand   out  in 


266  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

relief  by  their  brutality.  Here  and  at  Smyrna 
nothing  forcible  has  as  yet  been  attempted,  but 
wherever  he  commands — at  Mersine,  Aleppo, 
Damascus,  and  Jerusalem — he  proposes  imme- 
diate deportation  of  all  males  to  that  fanatical 
hell-hole  Ourfa.  Many  of  the  wires  are  six 
days  old  and  have  purposely  been  withheld; 
the  measures  may  even  now  be  under  way. 

Aug.  JO. — The  excitement  over  the  Italians 
has  for  the  time  disappeared,  for  the  deporta- 
tion orders  have  been  rescinded,  and  will  not  be 
carried  out  until  Italy  fires  the  first  hostile  shot. 
How  long  will  that  be?  Meanwhile  the  city  is 
beflagged  for  the  victory  at  the  Dardanelles, 
where  10,000  English  are  said  to  have  been 
killed  and  twice  as  many  wounded,  while  gossip 
has  it  that  800  officers  were  taken  prisoners. 
But  the  official  communique  alludes  only  to  the 
number  of  the  dead,  and  is  by  no  means  specific 
in  its  detail.  There  are  some  here  who  think  the 
victory  a  bluff,  intended  to  mask  the  enormous 
Turkish  losses,  for  the  wounded  are  again 
arriving  In  vast  numbers.  There  is  no  claim 
made  to  even  a  single  British  trench  captured. 
Talaat  to-day  did  not  look  like  a  man  who  had 
heard  particularly  cheering  news. 

What  is  certain  is  the  departure  from  the 
Golden  Horn  of  a  new  giant  German  sub- 
marine, the  U  54,  over  two  hundred  feet  long, 


THE  CASE  OF  IPRAMAZIAN       267 

and  with  complete  wireless  apparatus.  No  one 
suspected  its  presence  here,  though  I  had  heard 
some  time  ago  that  the  Germans  were  awaiting 
an  accession  of  submarine  strength.  There  is 
also  said  to  be  a  new  English  submarine  in  the 
Marmora,  which  had  dived  under  the  barrage 
in  the  Narrows.  All  Turkish  navigation  was 
stopped  the  other  day  for  fear  of  it,  but  much- 
needed  munitions  have,  I  hear,  been  sent  down 
on  a  hospital  ship. 

Aug.  31. — The  U  54  turns  out  to  be  our 
old  friend  the  U  51,  with  another  number 
painted  over  it  to  give  the  impression  of  a 
newly  arrived  ship.  The  circumstances  attend- 
ing her  departure  were  sufficiently  public  to 
lead  one  to  suppose  that  there  was  reason  for 
it.  One  hears  more  and  more  that  the  great 
victory  at  the  Dardanelles  was  a  bluff  intended 
to  conceal  the  loss  of  positions  and  men.  There 
are  even  rumours  that  Essad  Pasha,  who  com- 
mands at  Ari  Bournu,  has  been  captured — 
but  of  this  no  confirmation. 

Among  the  recent  Armenian  deportees  was 
a  very  wealthy  merchant,  one  Ipramazian, 
whose  case  was  the  more  astonishing  as  he  had 
been  regarded  as  a  personal  friend  of  Talaat 
and  Enver.  Even  Bedri  expressed  regret  at 
being  obliged  to  carry  out  the  sentence  against 
a  man  to  whom  he  felt  personally  indebted. 


268  BULGARIA  DECIDES 

The  Turks  had  begun  by  requisitioning  his 
merchandise  for  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
in  value  and  then  deported  him.  Next  came 
official  news  of  his  death  on  August  lo,  and 
the  authorities  here  placed  seals  over  all  his 
possessions.  His  brothers  protested  on  the 
ground  that  their  business  was  that  of  a  firm 
and  not  an  individual,  when  to  their  surprise 
they  received  a  letter  from  him  written  on 
August  II,  the  day  after  his  supposed  official 
death! 

The  Germans  here  are  jubilant  over  the 
supposed  agreement  with  Bulgaria,  which  they 
affirm  positively  has  now  been  concluded. 
Bulgaria  and  Germany  are  to  attack  Serbia 
from  both  sides  at  the  same  time,  to  force  a  free 
passage  here,  and  the  Bulgarians  are  to  send 
siege  guns  and  munitions  to  the  Dardanelles. 
All  Ententists  were  depressed  when  they  heard 
this,  but  I  know  that  the  agreement  is  not  yet 
signed,  and  doubt  if  it  will  be,  though  Germany 
is  again  straining  every  effort.  Neurath,  the 
German  Councillor,  has  left  for  Sofia  on  this 
errand.  Personally,  I  believe  the  Bulgarians 
are  flirting  with  both  sides  to  get  their 
bids  raised.  Only  a  few  months  ago  they 
were  ready  to  come  in  with  the  Entente,  if 
they  could  have  been  assured  Macedonia,  in 
spite   of    the    pro-German    sympathies   of   the 


BULGARIAN  POLICY  269 

King  and  army.  But  the  Russian  reverses 
have  made  this  too  late.  They  will,  I  believe, 
stay  neutral  for  the  present,  and  through  the 
threat  of  war  try  to  obtain  Macedonia  and  a 
bit  of  Thrace.  They  certainly  cannot  want 
a  Germany  supreme,  a  strong  Turkey,  and 
Austria  as  a  next-door  neighbour,  while  to 
stab  Russia  when  she  is  down  would  be  worse 
than  treachery  for  a  state  which  owes  her  its 
existence. 


VI 

SEPTEMBER 

DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Sept,  I. — To-day  is  the  Sultan*s  birthday, 
and  the  town  is  once  more  beflagged.  This 
is  now  a  daily  occurrence,  though  Turkish 
officers  who  lately  arrived  from  the  Dardanelles 
were  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  reason  of 
recent  rejoicings;  they  knew  of  no  victory  there. 
The  press  publishes  an  exchange  of  telegrams 
between  the  German  Emperor  and  Enver, 
conferring  on  the  latter  the  "  Pour  le  Merite  " 
for  his  defence  at  Gallipoli.  But  the  telegrams 
are  undated,  and  likely  enough  were  addressed 
some  time  ago  and  served  up  warm  for  the 
occasion. 

Sept,  2. — Bulgaria  hopes  to  realize  her 
ambitions  through  peace.  Serbia  is  to  be 
intimidated  to  yield  Macedonia,  not  to  be 
attacked,  while  Turkey,  for  the  same  reason, 
is  to  cede  the  right  bank  of  the  Maritza  and 
something  beside.  Here  they  are  almost  glad 
to  give  up  whatever  is  necessary,  but  signature 

270 


ATTITUDE  OF  BULGARIA         271 

is  still  withheld  at  Sofia.  The  Greek  Charg6 
d'Affaires  believes  it  inevitable,  and  that  Bul- 
garia will  consent  to  the  passage  of  German 
troops  and  munitions.  A  few  months  ago,  he 
remarked,  the  Entente  could  have  counter- 
balanced Bulgaria,  if  she  had  been  hostile,  by 
Roumania  and  Greece,  but  since  the  Russian 
reverses  this  is  too  late.  The  irony  of  the 
situation  is  that  Russia  herself  prevented 
pressure  being  brought  on  her  favourite  child. 
Now,  when  she  requires  aid,  her  own  defeats 
are  used  by  Bulgaria  against  her.  The  Entente 
lost  much  precious  time  last  winter.  Half  of 
what  they  are  now  willing  to  offer  would  then 
have  swayed  the  Balkans  into  unanimity,  and 
have  long  ago  brought  the  Allies  to  Con- 
stantinople. 

There  is  a  report  that  the  U  54  was  badly 
damaged  by  a  Turkish  battery  at  Silivri,  which 
opened  fire  by  mistake,  and  that  it  will  have 
to  be  towed  back  here.  To  mask  this  they 
are  spreading  the  rumour  that  an  English 
submarine  ran  aground,  and  will  doubtless 
bring  in  the  German  boat  under  a  false  number, 
as  though  she  were  a  captured  prey.  But 
rumours  are  mostly  on  the  other  side,  and 
manufactured  here  thick  and  fast.  One  of 
the  centres  is  the  small  room  next  to  mine  in 
the  Chancery,  where  the  dragomans  of  all  the 


272  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

belligerents  sit  and  exchange  fantastic  tales; 
and  another,  on  a  lower  scale,  is  the  British 
Embassy  garden,  where  Helene's  French 
maid  and  a  few  other  Ententists  gather  to 
discuss  the  occult  news  about  which  the  censor- 
ship is  silent. 

I  did  hear  that  a  fleet  of  sixty  Italian 
transports  was  approaching  the  Dardanelles, 
which  would  not  be  surprising,  as  we  have 
just  received  word  to  ask  for  the  recognition 
of  three  Italian  hospital  ships.  Their  par- 
ticipation would  have  been  wiser  two  months 
ago,  for  all  this  ground  is  now  bristling  with 
successive  lines  of  defence.  The  Grand  Vizier 
gives  out  that  Garroni  was  in  tears  when  he 
presented  his  declaration  of  war.  The  Grand 
Vizier,  however,  has  made  many  funny  state- 
ments, and  again  affirms  that  the  war  will  be 
over  in  a  few  weeks.  France  is  to  be  crushed 
as  fully  as  Russia,  and  Turkey  will  enrich  her- 
self with  enormous  indemnities. 

The  Armenian  persecutions  are  continuing 
in  spite  of  remonstrances.  The  few  Turkish 
officials  who  refused  to  carry  them  out,  like 
Reshid  Pasha  at  Castamouni,  and  Suleyman 
Nazif  at  Bagdad,  have  been  dismissed.  A 
Turkish  friend  related  to  me  that  at  Ismidt, 
when  the  deportations  began,  the  Armenian 
Bishop,  dressed  in  all  his  vestments,   headed 


ARAB  PLOT  273 

his  flock  chanting  the  hymn  which  Moses  is 
supposed  to  have  sung  when  he  led  the 
Children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt. 

At  Beirut,  an  Arab  plot  to  establish  Syrian 
independence  under  English  protection  has 
been  discovered,  and  thirteen  notables,  includ- 
ing a  deputy,  were  hanged,  while  sixty  were 
condemned  by  default.  I  have  only  heard 
this  vaguely  from  a  Turkish  source.  Our 
Consuls  are  no  longer  permitted  to  write  in 
sealed  envelopes,  and  half  the  letters  are  not 
delivered,  w^hile  our  official  wires  are  retarded 
a  week.  I  never  received  any  one  of  the 
three  letters  Helene  wrote  me  from  Dedea- 
gatch,  nor  did  she  either  of  my  two  urgent 
telegrams. 

From  the  Dardanelles  news  is  scarce. 
There  are  17,000  fresh  wounded,  and  as 
there  is  no  more  room  in  town,  they  are 
fitting  out  the  barracks  at  Daoud  Pasha  to 
receive  them.  Adrianople  and  Kirk  Kilisse 
are  once  more  emptied  of  troops.  The  last 
have  been  dispatched  to  the  front.  There  are 
again  insistent  reports  that  Bagdad  has  fallen, 
also  Bitlis  and  Moush. 

Sept.  3. — An  explanation  given  me  of  the 
recently  announced  victory  at  Anafarta,  is  that 
the  Turks  were  quaking  lest  the  new  landing 
should   bring  their  resistance  to  an  end,  and 


274  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

had  even  prepared  a  proclamation  to  the 
population  here  inviting  those  who  wished  to 
leave  the  capital.  As  the  British  attack  was 
only  partly  successful,  it  was  at  once  construed 
into  a  victory  for  the  Turks.  I  now  hear  that 
five  of  the  famous  Austrian  30.5  guns  have 
arrived,  and  are  being  dispatched  to  the  front.' 
They  had  long  been  expected.^  If  true,  it 
proves  that  Bulgaria  has  made  her  terms  with 
Turkey,  and  with  the  free  passage  of  munitions 
the  Dardanelles  defence  can  be  indefinitely 
sustained;  but  one  hears  that  the  islands  are 
teeming  with  British  reinforcements. 

There  has  been  a  row  between  the  Germans 
and  the  Turks  at  Zeitoun  Bournu,  the  chief 
arms  factory,  accompanied  by  bloodshed,  and 
all  work  has  for  the  time  been  suspended. 
But  Krupp  workmen  are  daily  arriving,  and 
before  long  they  should  be  able  to  dispense 
with  most  of  the  native  element.  Sixty-three 
came  yesterday.  More  and  more  the  Germans 
are  tightening  their  grip  here,  and  so  long  as 
the  war  lasts  they  will  be  welcome. 

Sept.  4. — There  are  now  a  thousand  German 
workmen  here,  and  wherever  there  is  a  lathe 

1  Although  the  large  Austrian  howitzers  arrived,  their  use  at 
the  Dardanelles  was  not  found  practicable  owing  to  the  narrow 
roads.  The  largest  field  guns  used  by  the  Turks  are  said  to  have 
been  24-centimetre  howitzers. 


PRISONERS  275 

they  are  making  munitions.  They  have  set 
up  factories  at  Smyrna,  Eski-Chehir,  and  else- 
where in  the  interior,  but  the  output  is  still 
inadequate,  and  the  Dardanelles  problem,  so 
far  as  we  see  it,  centres  around  this.  If  the 
report  is  true  of  heavy  guns  now  passing 
through  Roumania  and  Bulgaria,  it  will  be 
well-nigh  impossible  to  reduce  the  defences. 
We  are  without  news  from  there  in  the  last 
five  days,  though  I  did  hear  that,  in  the  last 
battle,  if  a  German  officer  had  not  arrived  with 
machine  guns  in  the  nick  of  time,  the  English 
would  have  gained  an  important  victory. 

I  passed  four  English  prisoners  yesterday 
in  the  street,  and  wanted  to  call  out  to  them 
in  English  to  be  of  good  cheer,  but  feared  it 
would  do  them  harm,  and  contented  myself 
with  smiling.  They  are  better  treated  now  at 
the  hospital,  though  still  without  blankets;  but 
the  announced  visit  from  the  Embassy  has  been 
useful  in  securing  improvement.  The  Turks, 
however,  insist  that  their  own  prisoners  in 
Egypt  are  treated  like  animals,  and  the  British 
Government  would  have  been  better  advised  if 
they  had  had  a  report  of  their  condition  drawn 
up  by  some  one  from  our  Agency  there,  which 
we  could  then  have  paraded,  instead  of  sticking 
to  vague  generalizations.  The  rumours  of  indi- 
vidual ill-treatment  of  prisoners  have  done  a 


2'j6  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

good  deal  of  harm  to  those  of  the  Entente 
here.  Thus  a  German  transport  officer,  Colonel 
Bischoff,  maintains  that  his  son,  who  was  a 
civilian  at  Birmingham,  was  imprisoned  for 
months  on  a  diet  of  dry  bread  and  water,  salt- 
fish  and  milk,  and  suffered  grave  hardship. 

The  Turco-German  claim  of  having  tor- 
pedoed the  transport  Southlands  was  based 
on  intercepting  a  wireless  message  from  the 
ship  calling  for  help.  We  had  first  attributed 
this  to  the  U  54,  but  she  lies  damaged  in  the 
Golden  Horn  from  the  fire  of  a  Turkish  battery. 
The  published  sinking  in  the  Marmora  of  an 
English  submarine  with  all  its  crew  is  a  down- 
right lie.  One  was  reported  stranded  off  Silivri, 
but  when  they  sent  down  there  it  had  already 
vanished.  Official  lies  are  published  to  conceal 
the  general  restlessness.  There  are  persistent 
rumours  of  a  great  Turkish  defeat  in  the 
Caucasus,  and  of  Erzeroum  falling.  Further 
to  the  south  the  Kurds  are  in  open  revolt, 
while  the  English  are  now  quite  close  to 
Bagdad.  With  their  readiness  to  cede  the 
greater  part  of  Thrace,  the  Turks  have  so 
far  gathered  little  from  the  war  beyond  German 
decorations. 

Sept,  5. — The  reports  of  a  severe  Turkish 
defeat  on  the  Eastern  front  continue.  The 
Russians  are  said  to  be  not  only  at  Bitlis  and 


REQUISITIONS  277 

Moush,  but  even  at  Erzingian,  over  a  hundred 
miles  west  of  Erzeroum.  Twelve  thousand 
Turks  are  rumoured  as  massacred,  and  the 
German  headquarters  is  unable  to  obtain  reply 
from  its  general  staff  there.  So  rapid  a  Russian 
advance  is  incredible,  but  there  may  well  have 
been  local  revolts  of  Kurds,  while  the  Armenian 
volunteers,  who  fight  with  the  courage  of  de- 
spair, have  perhaps  gained  real  success. 

In  the  afternoon  we  drove  out  to  the  mosaic 
mosque,  only  to  find  it  sealed  and  used  by  the 
military  for  a  storehouse.  The  museum  has 
also  been  closed,  and  the  famous  sarcophagi  lie 
imbedded  in  a  yard  of  sand.  The  smaller 
objects  of  value  from  the  museum  and  palace 
have  long  ago  been  sent  to  Konia.  Most  of 
the  mosques  now  are  barracks,  for  a  new  crop 
of  soldiers  is  being  turned  out,  and  I  was 
surprised  to  note  the  good  physique  and  ap- 
pearance of  those  I  saw  marching  in  the  streets. 
They  are  armed  with  Martinis — evidently  the 
supply  of  Mausers  is  exhausted. 

They  have  requisitioned  all  the  stone- 
cutting  and  wood-sawing  machinery  used  for 
the  construction  of  the  new  Italian  Embassy. 
It  can  serve  the  military  no  possible  purpose 
save  that  of  sale,  which  is  sufficient.  Only 
lately  they  seized  most  of  the  stock  of  lime 
belonging    to   a   building   concern.     They   left 


278  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

only  a  little;  but  when  a  local  builder  was 
asked  the  regular  price  for  this  he  refused  it, 
saying  he  could  buy  the  same  from  the  War 
Office  at  half  cost  where  they  sold  what  they 
requisitioned.  They  are  even  taking  the  few 
tons  of  coal  left  at  the  Russian  Embassy. 

A  new  order  enjoins  all  belligerent  subjects 
in  Constantinople  to  be  Indoors  at  nine  in  the 
evening,  and  not  to  stir  without  police  sanction. 
Those  attached  to  our  Embassy  are  naturally 
indignant,  for  the  police  maintain  they  are 
included  in  this. 

Sept.  6. — I  hear  they  are  bringing  up 
artillery  to  the  monastery  at  Prinkipo,  and 
placing  more  guns  above  Dolma  Bagtche,^ 
which  looks  as  if  they  might  be  preparing  for 
the  fall  of  the  Dardanelles;  but  it  must  be  a 
long  way  off. 

The  Goeben,  HamidUy  and  a  torpedo  boat 
left  for  the  Black  Sea  to  escort  three  expected 
colliers.  Also  three  barges  full  of  munitions 
have  been  torpedoed  beyond  Chekmedje.  But 
now  that  the  E  7  has  been  caught  in  a  net  the 
Germans  maintain  that  only  one  submarine 
remains  in  the  Marmora. 

At  the  Porte  they  admit  a  defeat  near 
Erzeroum,  where  a  force  of  20,000  men 
was   cut   to   places.     At   Erzingian,   as   I   had 

1  The  Sultan's  Palace. 


BEDRI  279 

suspected,  there  was  a  Kurdish  rising,  but  the 
Turks  say  it  has  now  been  suppressed.  More 
than  before  there  is  a  feeling  of  general  unrest, 
which  has  at  least  given  the  Armenians  some 
respite  after  the  last  massacre  at  Angora. 
Since  Ahmed  Riza  memorialized  against  their 
persecution  he  is  more  than  ever  an  object  of 
suspicion. 

Yesterday  the  police  expelled  the  Italian 
parish  priest  of  St.  Peter's  from  his  church  at 
Yedi  Koule.  The  priest  went  to  Bedri  to  ask 
permission  at  least  to  remove  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment. Bedri,  who  had  never  heard  of  this, 
asked  what  it  was,  and  when  told  it  was  bread 
exclaimxcd,  *'  Decidedly  no.  We  need  all  the 
bread  we  can  get."  The  new  order,  forcing 
all  belligerents  to  be  indoors  at  nine,  has  been 
applied  even  to  the  poor  Italian  musicians  who 
are  deprived  of  their  livelihood,  but  Bedri  puts 
it  very  frankly,  '*  We  want  them  to  starve." 
When  requested  to  make  exceptions  for  the 
enemy  diplomats  attached  to  our  Embassy,  he 
said  the  regulation  was  specially  aimed  at 
these. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  see  the  library 
of  Emiri  Effendi,  a  courtly  old  Turk,  who  lives 
in  squalor  to  save  his  money  to  buy  books,  and 
prefers  his  cushions  on  the  floor  to  the  comfort 
of  chairs.     I   saw  his  extraordinary  collection 


280  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

of  manuscripts  which  had  belonged  to  the  great 
Sultans  and  bore  their  seals.  He  is  himself 
the  author  of  a  work  on  the  poetry  of  the  early 
Sultans,  and  with  a  total  income  of  ten  Turkish 
pounds  a  month,  saves  enough  to  increase  his 
collection.  He  showed  me  some  exquisite 
Persian  miniatures  from  the  brush  of  Uzun 
Osman,  the  court  painter  of  Suleyman  the 
Magnificent,  which  exceeded  in  refinement 
and  grace  even  Western  missals  like  the 
Grimani  Breviary.  One  miniature  depicted 
Selim  the  Grim  with  his  favourite  preceptor. 
But  many  were  unfortunately  effaced  by  fanat- 
ical Moslem  hands,  who  refused  to  tolerate 
the  painted  image.  He  had  also  a  prized 
ancient  manuscript  on  tulips,  describing  1500 
varieties,  and  what  he  valued  above  all  was  an 
ancient  encyclopaedia  by  a  Turki  from  Kashgar, 
written,  he  said,  nine  hundred  years  ago,  in 
which  there  is  a  cosmography  mentioning 
America.  He  gave  me  a  copy  of  this,  lately 
published  in  reproduction  by  the  Ministry  of 
Public  Instruction. 

Returning  from  the  cinema  at  night  we 
saw,  passing  in  the  street,  some  two  thousand 
Arabs,  freshly  arrived  for  military  service  from 
their  villages  in  the  desert.  They  were  still 
in  their  native  rags  and  passed  silently  in  the 
darkness  like  figures  from  the  Bible. 


AGREEMENT   WITH    BULGARIA   281 

Sept.  7. — The  agreement  with  Bulgaria,  I 
am  told  confidentially,  was  signed  last  night.  In 
return  for  neutrality  Bulgaria  obtains  the  right 
bank  of  the  Maritza,  later  she  may  invade  Serbia 
contemporaneously  with  Germany.  The  agree- 
ment is  to  be  kept  secret  till  published  in  Sofia. 
So  much  for  its  public  clauses.  Its  secret  ones 
will  remain  in  the  dark,  but  doubtless  include 
the  passage  of  munitions.  I  heard  that  only 
lately  when  a  train  of  three  hundred  cars  of 
these  arrived  at  the  Bulgarian  frontier  they 
allowed  two  hundred  to  pass  on  condition  that 
the  remainder  should  be  given  them  for  their 
own  army.  Without  German  munitions  the 
Dardanelles  defence  could  not  last  a  month, 
for  they  can  only  turn  out  here  about  five 
hundred  6-inch  shells  a  day.  Koloucheff, 
however,  emphatically  denied  to  me  the  exist- 
ence of  any  agreement.  He  said  one  had 
some  time  ago  been  discussed  over  the  rail- 
way, but  this  had  fallen  through.  Yet  two 
Bulgarian  generals,  Ivanoff  and  Kovacheff,  are 
here  presumably  for  this  purpose.  We  shall 
know  eventually,  but  the  situation  looks  bad 
for  the  Entente,  and  with  300,000  Turkish 
troops  at  the  Dardanelles  Koloucheff  maintains 
these  are  impregnable.  The  Turks  have  one 
considerable  advantage  in  being  able  to  rest 
their  divisions  when  tired,  which  becomes  more 


22,2  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

difficult  for  the  Allies.  On  the  other  hand, 
I  am  told  that  only  20  per  cent,  of  the  Turkish 
wounded  are  able  to  be  sent  back  to  the  front, 
whereas  in  Germany  the  proportion  is  78  per 
cent.  But  here  the  lack  of  first  aid  and  the 
habit  of  the  soldiers  to  dress  their  wounds  with 
dirty  clothes  or  handkerchiefs  is  responsible 
for  many  tetanus  cases. 

Three  large  colliers  were  torpedoed  by  the 
Russians  on  their  way  here,  and  the  Hamidie, 
which  had  gone  to  escort  them,  returned  in- 
jured. But  they  must  have  some  supply  of 
coal,  for  they  are  going  to  open  the  gasworks 
again  to  obtain  coke  which  they  need  for  muni- 
tions. There  is  an  embargo  on  many  articles 
and  an  export  tax  on  others,  such  as  wool, 
which  is  now  in  great  demand  in  Germany. 
Enver  lately  gave  a  friend  of  his  permission  to 
export  free  300,000  okes  of  wool.  The  friend 
sold  two-thirds  of  this  right  for  £Ti 0,000. 
Money  is  made  rapidly  these  days.  Turks  say 
that  Ismail  Hakki,  the  Under-Secretary  at  the 
War  Office,  who  is  in  charge  of  requisitions 
and  commissariat,  has  acquired  an  enormous 
fortune,  but  this  may  be  calumny.  The  soldiers 
are  certainly  well  fed  for  the  first  time  in 
Turkish    history. 

SepL  8. — I  hear  that  the  agreement  with 
Bulgaria  also  stipulates  for  the  free  passage  of 


BULGARIA'S  COMPENSATION     283 

German  troops,  and  promises  150,000  Mausers 
to  the  Turks,  of  which  they  are  in  great  need. 
After  the  war,  the  Bulgars  are  to  receive  the 
Enos-Midia  line  once  more.  For  the  present 
they  are  staking  everything  on  German  victory, 
for  Russia,  as  many  Bulgarians  realize,  cannot 
soon  forgive  such  treachery.  The  retreat  from 
the  Carpathians  has  been  fatal  to  Entente 
hopes  in  the  Balkans,  but  military  ill-success 
has  been  aided  by  incompetent  diplomacy. 

The  Turks  are  a  little  nervous  over  the 
Italian  expedition,  and  Enver's  departure  for 
Smyrna  may  not  be  unconnected  with  such 
fears.  They  are  moving  the  treasury  once 
more,  this  time  from  Konia  to  Angora,  for  fear 
of  a  sudden  raid.  I  hear  there  are  now  nearly 
half  a  million  Allies  in  this  neighbourhood — 
190,000  at  the  Dardanelles,  220,000  in  the 
Islands,  and  60,000  in  Egypt.  But  unfor- 
tunately the  officers  of  the  new  army  are 
inexperienced.  The  recent  landing,  where  they 
took  the  Turks  entirely  by  surprise,  was 
jumbled  by  the  ignorance  of  officers,  who  lost 
touch  with  their  units.  For  twenty-four  hours 
they  saw  no  Turkish  force.  They  had  things 
their  own  way,  and  could  have  occupied  any 
points.  But  the  muddle  was  apparently  beyond 
description. 

They  are  very  sore  here  at  P.,  who  was 


284  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

allowed  to  go  the  front  as  correspondent  on 
condition  that  he  would  publish  nothing  not 
passed  by  the  Censor.  But  he  was  hardly 
out  of  the  country  before  he  related  all  he 
had  seen,  and  the  result  is  that  the  Turks 
had  to  take  new  dispositions,  and  that  no 
more  American  newspaper  men  will  be  allowed 
down. 

A  bomb  was  thrown  at  Hadji  Adil,  the 
Governor  of  Adrianople,  which  killed  his  daugh- 
ter. A  Turkish  friend  told  me  he  believes 
this  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of 
violence,  and  other  attempts  will  now  be  made. 
He  is  frankly  pessimistic,  like  most  better-class 
Turks,  and  foresees  the  ruin  of  his  country. 
In  the  event  of  the  Allies'  success,  he  thinks, 
before  they  reach  here,  there  will  be  a  general 
massacre  and  pillage  of  the  belligerents,  but  no 
two  opinions  are  alike  on  this  point. 

In  the  recent  Turkish  defeat  at  Khaniz, 
near  Erzeroum,  the  regiments  of  gaol-birds  are 
said  to  have  been  totally  destroyed.  When  all 
the  convicts  here  were  pressed  into  the  army, 
Talaat  congratulated  himself  on  this.  "  If  they 
are  killed,"  he  said,  ''  I  render  a  service  to 
humanity.  If  they  kill  Russians,  they  render 
one  to  Turkey." 

Sept.  10. — A  commission  has  been  appointed 
to    consider    the    seizure    of    property    of    the 


ARMENIAN  PERSECUTION       285 

French  and  English  residents  here,  as  a  re- 
prisal against  the  damage  suffered  by  bom- 
bardment, in  order  to  indemnify  the  sufferers. 
If  they  have  time  it  will  probably  be  carried 
out  and  provide  a  novel  form  of  confiscation. 
Elsewhere  the  military  authorities  are  laying 
hands  on  whatever  they  can,  and  the  new 
Italian  Embassy  building  is  being  systematically 
looted  of  everything — even  window-fittings  and 
door-handles  are  taken. 

A  supposed  cessation  of  the  Armenian 
persecution  had  caused  some  who  were  ^  in 
hiding  to  show  themselves.  To-day  all  Russian 
Armenians  have  been  arrested,  and  there  is 
fresh  consternation.  They  are  to  be  dispatched 
to  Konia  to-morrow.  At  11  p.m.  the  Russian 
Attache,  who,  in  common  with  the  other  bellig- 
erents here,  is  no  longer  allowed  out  at  night 
after  nine,  wrote  me  to  do  something  for  one  of 
the  Russian  dragomans,  who  is  probably  in- 
cluded by  mistake,  but  who  will  with  difficulty 
be  released  if  deported.  They  are  going  ahead 
systematically  with  the  Armenian  repression, 
and  nothing  stops  their  madness.  Djavid, 
although  a  prominent  member  of  the  Union 
and  Progress,  is  convinced  that  Enver  and 
Talaat  are  ruining  the  country.  It  is  odd  to 
see  with  what  scorn  both  Germans  and  Austrians 
talk  of  the  Turks,  and  especially  of  the  wicked 


286  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

incompetence  of  those  In  power.  If  they  do 
this  as  allies,  what  will  it  be  afterward?  An 
Austrian  colleague  told  me  to-day  he  saw  the 
immediate  future  of  Turkey  in  the  blackest 
colours. 

Sept.  II. — Rahmi,  the  only  Union  and 
Progress  man  who  has  distinguished  himself 
honourably,  is  now  here  from  Smyrna,  where 
all  appreciate  him  as  Vali,  to  protest  against 
the  Armenian  measures,  and  state  his  personal 
unwillingness  to  enforce  them.  He  is  a  *'  dun- 
\^  meg,"  1  as  are  Djavid,  Tahsin  at  the  Ministry  of 
Finance,  who  is  a  fairly  capable  official,  and  also 
KianI,  the  Governor  of  Pera,  all  moderate  men. 
But  the  purely  Turkish  element  is  insistent  in 
its  cry  of  Turkey  for  the  Turks,  and  although 
Halll,  the  President  of  the  Chamber,  told  Prince 
Hohenlohe  that  he  was  personally  against  the 
persecution,  he  lied.  The  Germans  have  made 
up  their  mind  that  they  will  be  held  in  part 
responsible  for  it,  but  they  have  prepared  a 
good  paper  record  of  notes  and  protests,  to 
show  how  they  tried  to  save  the  Armenians. 

Communications  have  stopped  between 
Austria  and  Roumania,  to  prevent  the  leakage 
of  news  while  military  movements  are  In 
progress,  and  Pallavicini,  who  is  leaving  for 
Vienna,  will  have  to  cross  the  frontier  in  a 
1  Moslems  from  Salonica  of  Jewish  origin. 


SERBIA  287 

motor-car,  which  the  Austrian  Government  is 
sending  for  him.  All  the  talk  here  is  about 
the  new  Austro-German  offensive  against 
Serbia,  while  Bulgaria  is  to  attack  her  from 
the  south.  Kolouchefif  still  denies  everything, 
except  the  Macedonian  ambition,  but  other 
Bulgarians  here  say  that  as  the  Entente  did 
not  make  the  necessary  offers  in  time,  which 
meant  before  the  Russian  reverses,  they  had 
to  turn  toward  the  Central  Powers,  and  their 
agreement  obliges  them  to  allow  the  free  transit 
of  troops  and  munitions.  The  hour  is  tragic 
both  for  Serbia  and  for  England.  If  ever  the 
Germans  come  through  here  before  the  English 
the  Dardanelles  will  never  be  forced.  One 
wonders  if  every  effort  will  not  be  made  before 
it  is  too  late.  Up  to  the  beginning  of  March 
50,000  good  troops  could  probably  have  occu- 
pied the  peninsula.  Now  it  will  require  at 
least  200,000  more  men,  for  the  Turks  are 
sending  reinforcements  in  daily  driblets. 

Enver  has  gone  down  to  the  Cilician  coast 
to  inspect  the  preparations  of  defence  against 
the  Italians,  for  they  anticipate  a  landing  there; 
but  in  spite  of  rumours  and  the  Italian  request 
to  the  Porte  some  ten  days  ago  for  the  recog- 
nition of  three  hospital  ships,  no  one  knows 
if  their  expedition  has  even  embarked. 

Sept.  12. — I  visited  with  G.  Bey  the  Evkaf 


288  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Museum,  closed  since  the  war.  Many  of  the 
more  precious  objects  have  been  removed  to 
Konia,  and  now  to  Angora,  but  enough  remains 
to  make  it  a  unique  collection  of  Islamic  art, 
housed  in  a  kind  of  Turkish  San  Marco,  built 
by  the  great  architect  Sinan,  whose  tomb  is 
close  by.  G.  Bey  was  full  of  his  recent  call  on 
Medjid,  the  most  intelligent  of  the  princes. 
Yussuf  Izeddin  is  half  demented,  but  the 
next  in  line,  Vahideddin,  is  a  miniature  Abdul 
Hamid,  with  a  will  of  iron  and  a  hatred  of  the 
Committee.  Like  all  Turks  one  meets,  G.  Bey 
at  once  asked  me  for  news.  They  know  nothing 
of  what  goes  on,  save  their  own  communiques, 
and  the  most  startling  rumours  circulate  in 
consequence,  for  they  disbelieve  their  Govern- 
ment's stories. 

In  Stamboul,  near  the  Sublime  Porte,  I 
bought  some  Turkish  post-cards — one  of  the 
Sultan  as  the  liberator  of  Asia  and  Africa,  the 
other  a  reproduction  of  a  Mutiny  picture,  where 
Sepoys  are  blown  from  the  mouth  of  cannon — 
this  to  give  the  Turkish  soldiers  an  idea  of 
how  the  English  treat  their  prisoners.  Doubt- 
less the  Germans  brought  here  a  photograph 
of  the  original,  for  they  have  done  their  best  to 
stir  up  hatred.  At  the  German  Embassy  they 
are  not  even  allowed  to  associate  with  neutrals 
unless  certain  of  their  sympathies.     Mme.  von 


A  PROPHECY  289 

W.  rebels,  but  submits  to  the  injunction,  which 
forbids  her  coming  to  our  house.  She  told  me 
herself  that  she  is  constantly  being  warned 
against  us.  The  Germans  here  maintain  their 
own  clan  and  associate  with  no  one  else,  not 
even  the  Austrians,  who  are  far  more  sociable 
and  mix  freely. 

X.  Bey  showed  me  a  remarkable  passage 
from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Due  de  Raguse, 
Napoleon's  marshal,  written  a  hundred  years 
ago. 

"  II  y  a  aussi  une  circonstance  qui  peut 
precipiter  la  chute  de  I'empire  turc,  c'est  le 
concours  imprudent  et  Tarrivee  intempestive 
de  pretendus  amis,  qui,  sous  le  pretexte  de  le 
secourir  et  d'assurer  une  independance  qui  est 
devenue  impossible,  y  ameneront  la  guerre, 
feront  naitre  infailliblement  les  evenements 
que  Ton  redoute  et  hateront  une  catastrophe, 
que  Ton  voudrait  prevenir,  et  que  Ton  ne  pourra 
eviter."  1 

Sept.  13. — A  day  of  unrest  and  rumours. 
The    Turks     are    apprehensive.      Enver    and 

1  *'  There  is  a  further  contingency  as  well  which  may  pre- 
cipitate the  fall  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  namely,  the  rash  aid 
and  inopportune  arrival  of  supposed  friends,  who,  under  the 
excuse  of  assisting  it  to  secure  an  independence  which  has 
become  impossible,  will  plunge  it  into  war,  and  undoubtedly 
bring  about  the  events  which  one  fears  and  hasten  a  catastrophe 
one  would  like  to  prevent  and  can  no  longer  avoid." 


290  DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Talaat,  It  Is  said,  have  both  sent  their  harems 
into  Asia  Minor  and  the  Orient  Bank  its  gold. 
Talaat  has  said  that  all  belligerents  here  are  to 
be  interned,  and  no  one  is  to  be  allowed  out 
at  night  after  nine.  What  are  we  coming  to? 
Helene  is  most  anxious,  and,  as  we  have  to 
go,  Pallavicini  advises  us  to  leave  as  soon  as 
possible  before  we  are  cut  off.  The  new 
offensive  against  Serbia  may  interrupt  all  com- 
munications. 

SepU  15. — Departure. 


The  writer  left  Constantinople  on  Sep- 
tember 15,  his  departure  being  hastened  by 
the  news  of  impending  mobilization  in  Bulgaria. 
He  had  only  time  to  accompany  to  England 
his  wife,  whose  health  had  suffered  seriously 
under  the  strain  of  events  at  Constantinople. 
A  week  later  he  was  obliged  to  leave  in  all 
haste  for  Sofia  to  take  charge  of  the  American 
Legation  there.  While  Serbia  was  being 
overrun  and  the  Allied  forces  had  landed  at 
Salonica,  the  Dardanelles  ceased  to  be  the 
primary  objective  on  the  South-Eastern  Front, 
Even  at  Sofia,  where  all  interest  was  then 
centred  on  the  Serbian  campaign,  its  echoes 
were  not  often  heard. 


FORCED  CELEBRATION  291 

The  mid-winter  evacuation  of  the  Dar- 
danelles terminated  the  enterprise  more  suc- 
cessfully than  could  have  been  anticipated. 
The  Turks,  taken  entirely  by  surprise,  claimed 
the  customary  victory,  and  their  bulletins 
chronicled  as  trophies  the  wrecked  motor-cars 
left  behind.  By  a  final  touch  of  irony  the 
unfortunate  Armenians  and  Greeks  in  Con- 
stantinople who  had  awaited  the  coming  of 
the  Allies  were  obliged  to  hold  commemorative 
services  to  "  celebrate  "  the  departure  of  those 
whom  they  had  hoped  so  ardently  to  welcome 
as   liberators. 


THE  END 


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